Lightning, Blood, and Steel
by Apocalyptian Scribe
Summary: In one universe, Cole Macgrath activates the RFI to end the lives of all conduits on Earth. In another universe, Alex Mercer saves New York city from a nuclear payload. In their last moments, both men find themselves on a one-way trip to absolutely nowhere. They'll make due, but something feels off. Have they truly come to this world by chance or is there something more to all this
1. Prologue

**Lightning** **,** **Blood** **, and S** **teel**

An Infamous and Prototype crossover set in the Claymore Universe

Prologue

* * *

In the tales of old, it could be said that the aspect of fire represented both the proud heritage and the vilified evils of humanity. Fire gave mankind the strength to look beyond their hovels where they cowered to transcend their physical limitations. Gone were the days when man cowered the and feared the unknown.

But here in New Marais, somewhere and some time away from us, the only aspect of fire that could be seen here was its penchant for devastation. The city could do nothing but watch as more and more of itself propagated the very flames sought to devour it whole. The skies were muddled with an ashy brimstone as dense smog turned the once blue sky into a sickening orange. To many, an all-consuming fire would have drawn the denizen's entire attention, but the citizens of New Marais were far more occupied with something else.

Out in the streets, the sounds of explosions and the ominous bellows flushed the citizens out of their homes. He could be seen, a giant humanoid figure of fire that moved slowly towards the center of this fine city. With each booming step, this "Beast" of a man moved ever closer towards the St. Ignatius, shockwaves echoed from each step as it sent up blasts of air taking with it anything loose enough to fly upward. This ever looming monster, unstoppable and unfettered by bullets and blasts of all kinds, looked on at the one thing that could stop him, a smaller figure still catching his breath on the top of St. Ignatius.

Cole Macgrath, the so-called Demon of Empire city, found himself on a church. Why the name came to him as he shielded his buzz cut head from buffeting winds with his bandaged covered hands, he could not say, but at least he was finding the thought funny. He, a so-called demon, was taking refuge on a church as the RFI was charging up for the last time. This small sphere of metal glowed brightly for Cole, brighter than any other source of power he had seen. Even the shadow of the beast seemed feeble compared to this beacon of hope.

It almost made him forget what he was about to do . . .

Almost . . .

As he pulled the RFI out, he felt the energy of device start to empower him, telling him that it was finally ready to fire.

"Zeke," Cole said out loud, "It's fully charged!"

"Go on man," Zeke responded, a pause coming as though he wasn't sure what else to say, ". . . push the button,"

Cole looked down towards the RFI, ready to fire it off when suddenly the thumps of loud footsteps alerted him to the Beast's presence. Taking a second to glance up, Cole felt himself grow ever more powerful as anger surged through him. The RFI, feeling Cole's anger, sparked alight. Cole felt lighter, stronger than before and in that moment, he did let himself go for his own sake.

"No," Cole said shaking his head, "No, not just yet."

With that, he ran towards the edge of the roof and let off a wave of energy from his hands that propelled him forward towards the beast. He yelled as a scowl came across his face, all in the hopes that his anger would fuel him further and help him fight the beast. As Cole got close enough, the Beast's residual energies held the conduit aloft as Cole started to fire off large swaths of explosive shots. The blasts ripped the already damaged being further and caused him to roar in agony. A shot to his face peeled off chunks of his the beast's head. A shot to the stomach punched a hole straight through. This visage of an unstoppable beast was crumbling just like the beast's form whittled away until its knees buckled under its weight. Its powers dissipating, the Beast finally fell on its knees as Cole floated down slowly, his breath still remaining in his chest even after the adrenaline rush.

As The Beast fell into a defeated kneel and looked towards Cole, Cole simply looked back at the giant. The tall fiery monster had only been stopped temporarily, but the ferocious beat down that Cole had given gave him a satisfying feeling, the feeling of victory. It was a childish 'fuck you' of sorts … but hell, it was one good thing in a sea of bad news. Satisfied, Cole Macgrath stood triumphantly, finally taking out the RFI. The RFI or Ray Field Inhibitor as it was called, was designed to cure the plague that was spreading across the eastern coast and to completely destroy the beast. Of course, there was an added side effect, the real reason why the RFI worked against the beast.

' _So this is it I guess._ '

When the RFI went off, he would be killed. The first time he tried to fire it, he could barely keep himself up. This time, Cole was determined to use it quickly and end it instantly. All he needed to think about was the good he was doing.

 _*COUGH COUGH*_

Cole turned to see Kuo coughing and rushed towards her. He held her in his arms and she cried as she coughed. Kuo had always been the driving force of goodness that Cole had always turned to. In these trying times, however, Kuo had turned to help the beast. She couldn't accept death like Cole could, but Cole could sympathize with the icy woman. Why should they have had to sacrifice their lives? Why should they have been killed off, the ones that did good, and everyone else had to be saved?

Shit, he was doing that again. Doubting this path.

Kuo only started her journey three weeks ago, when she picked Cole up at Empire City. She thought she could handle what it meant to be a hero . . . not realizing that sacrifices had to be made. Cole, on the other hand, perhaps had the most experience in that field.

As he comforted Kuo in his arms, Cole took the time to think back. He thought back to a time where he didn't worry about sacrifice. He thought back to a time when he wouldn't have to worry about life or death. He even thought back to Trish, back to when she told him she loved him, to where she thought he had betrayed her, to when she came back to him, and, finally, to when she died.

' _This is what needs to be done'_ he repeated over and over again in his head.

"It's ok," Cole reassured Kuo, but Kuo was shaking herself out of his arms.

"It's not ok." Kuo spat back in between her sobs, "You made the right choice. Hell, Nix even made the right choice."

Nix had been a fiery hot conduit that always tried to seduce Cole into going at things her way. If there were people that were protesting about Cole, she would always tell him to attack them. If there was someone with a blast core, she would tell him to steal it from them. He would always tell her no and she would always question why. In the end, Nix was on the side for good and showed her resolve with true sacrifice.

It was all worth it.

It was all worth it.

". . . I was— I am scared . . ." Kuo continued. Her eyes were red with tears, tears that were now flowing down her face and freezing from her icy cold skin.

"I know" Cole spoke. Kuo looked down.

"Do it," she whimpered

He moved away from her icy body as he stood straight. He spared a look at the kneeling fiery beast's body and shifted his sight back to Kuo. She coughed as he took out the RFI again and prepared himself for the pain. When he readied himself, he felt the energy being drained from his own body. His flesh felt weak as the device beeped in glory. For a moment the world around him fell silent as he let himself go. The moment passed and the energy racked his body as a beam of light flew into the sky. The energy penetrated the atmosphere and was sent out in a wave of energy that reached every conduit in the world killing them.

One by one the corrupted in New Marias dropped dead in the blast's wake. Vermakk 88 agents dropped like flies as the ice caused by their carnage melted with them. The plague followed as families flocked to their previously thought to be dead members and the sweet chorus of rejoicing civilians echoed throughout the city. The sounds of celebrations could be heard throughout the city just for being alive, but one man didn't say a sound.

He ran towards the origin of the blast and found the two dead bodies of the conduits John White and Lucy Kuo. Cole was nowhere to be found. A fear struck him that hit him hard, that his friend would go down as an unsung hero. But here in New Marias, they knew what he had done. The Demon of Empire City had finally become the Patron Saint of New Marias, his face would mark the very church he stood upon.

Some people swore that they heard a voice though, a voice that went across the stars. Some say that he had never died and had gone somewhere else. But what all could say was that there was only one definite thing to say.

Cole had lived half as long but twice as bright.

But, things were not as they seemed.

* * *

In another place and time, a helicopter exploded into a fiery ball of shrapnel and death. Broad daylight marked the USS Ronald Reagan, a far cry from just days before when the red hues of organic matter stained the sky. The first explosion was quickly followed up by others, the domino effect of inactive planes and helicopters that were just a little too close to one explosive happy vehicle. Even as the violence came, as bodies were strewn about in excess, but soldiers came running up onto the deck to take the place of the dead.

A creature kept its watchful eye as it towered over the scene. Looking out for the prey that it had so easily punched away, this supreme hunter stood nearly 10 feet tall in the twisted visage of a human that seemed to have been melted and remade over a dozen times. The hunter's form was a disgusting sight to behold, but even it was nothing compared to . . . him.

Within a flash, the monster felt its flesh tear as huge spikes shot out from the ground. The pain of torn flesh brought a quick roar, but it was merely superficial damage when the monster's regeneration kicked in. Muscles and sinew wove themselves together as the monster looked back towards the hooded figure, the real monster. Alex Mercer, they called him usually pairing it up with the words terrorist or bioweapon. Of course, the truth was that this was merely a fleshy imitation of the ex-Gentek scientist Alex Mercer and the leather jacket he had worn that night. Alex preferred Blackwatch's little name for him, but even then, Zeus was a rather unfitting name for him.

After all, he preferred eating gods than ruling them.

Alex's arms flicked up as clawed hands jerked out from the ship's deck. These wicked blades flicked between each other as he bounced from foot to foot, keeping light on his toes as the monster seemed to aim a retaliate. Just as the monster bent its knees, Alex snapped to action. Fleshy appendages quickly surrounded and spun around his arms as they practically reshaped his sharp hands into heavy mounds of flesh. Alex got down to his knees from the sudden weight change but quickly adjusted.

The gesture registered as a challenge aimed directly at the Supreme Hunter and, with a roar, the monstrous humanoid leaped forward before it gathered his bearings as he prepared himself. Alex was smart enough to move out of the way and then some as tendrils spilled out from the hunter's body in a similar fashion to Alex's own maneuver. Had Alex not been pressed for time, he might have admired the quick ingenuity of closing a distance to unleash such a powerful attack with little warning, but here, he was just annoyed.

He dodged the clumsily aimed tendrils with a scowl; the damned thing had imitated him, like a child trying to act out his betters. As the tendrils pulled back, Alex saw the supreme hunter's haggard state. Alex pulled nearly of his biomass into his right arm, causing it to smash into the floor. Just moving required him to drag his arm, but that wasn't a problem at all as he gathered momentum.

A split second later, Alex flung this overgrown tumor towards the Hunter and smashing into its chest. Blood was pouring from the monstrosity as it roared, it's body concaved inwards by the strike. Alex took pleasure in going for the legs, snapping the thick limbs like twigs before the hunter retaliated back with a swipe of his arm. With the distance long range, Alex turned his arm into a whip-like appendage, snapping it forward without a second thought. He tore through the monster's stomach area, but it quickly regenerated and stood up again.

For several minutes, the Supreme Hunter fought a losing battle as he flung powerful, yet uncoordinated attacks that missed. The large bulky body of the Supreme Hunter could not hope to keep up with Alex's agility and Alex knew it. He toyed with the damn thing, going on for longer than he needed to when he began to watch the soldiers around him pull back. By the time the monster got to its knees and its regeneration was slowing, Alex had paused and recalled his nuclear situation. He had let himself go; how foolish of him.

His right arm changed, twisting it into a huge curved blade that shined among the black flesh. Alex darted one last time underneath the hunter's vision. Before it could do anything, he jumped up from under his neck, slicing the Supreme hunter's head off as he absorbed the creature into himself.

"Grow that back."

He landed, still watching the creature turn into a lump of dead twisting flesh. It gurgled as the blood gushed out from its large open wounds and slumped chest down onto the ground. Alex now had other matters at hand. He ran towards the lowered deck and went straight towards the nuke. From the looks of it, he still a couple minutes before it detonated. An angry scowl came over his face, realizing how much time he had wasted fooling around.

He grabbed the nuke as gently as any superhuman monster could and placed it on an ascending platform. When it reached the top, he was greeted by several soldiers foolishly pointing guns at him.

"Move" he growled. He wasn't about to waste any more time.

The soldiers looked at each other as held their guns and their ground. One of them even had the gall to come forward

"Idiots," he said as he hefted the large nuke right up to their faces, breaking their line of sight. The soldiers bolted backward but it was too late as Alex's right limb had snapped forward, whipping through the multitude that got in his way. All of them fell, their bodies severed in half. They were all screaming for only a moment before they gurgled.

Free from distractions, Alex calmly walked towards one of the helicopters and quickly got to work, attaching the nuke to the helicopter before he started up the engines with a machine-like efficiency. After about a minute of working, one minute less on the timer, Alex drove the helicopter up quickly as the nuke swung along underneath.

The virus could waste little time. Even with the added weight messing with the trajectory, he flew over the darkened water with a steady balance. Mental experience of the tens of hundreds of soldiers guided him with only the true pilots shouting above the swath of voices. He had no other thoughts in his head then and there, perhaps a side effect to his mass consumption of soldiers. This ride out to sea, even with the thought of death looming about, it barely affected him. Not even thoughts of Dana or Dr. Ragland came back to haunt him, though he did have passing thoughts.

As he finally found the helicopter at a safe distance away from the city. With the press of a button, Alex detached the bomb, sending it into the water, and the copter turned away as the bomb sunk into the depths. He pushed down on the helicopter's controls, accelerating it away from the soon to appear explosion.

And then, it went off.

Most humans would have panicked in Alex's position, but this had been accounted for. For the bomb to be at a safe distance from the city, he was undoubtedly going to be in the blast, whether he liked it or not. A human, a mortal, fleshy human, would have asked what could have been done. They would have asked why there were there and perhaps they might have asked why they needed to die, but Alex had no such question or introspection.

Like the hundreds he ate, this experience was a means to an end, one step to some imagined finish line that he had conjured up on his head. He was going to be hit by the blast, but he was going to survive.

All he asked was ... what was next.

He didn't even say a word as the blast tore through the helicopter, burning him alive.

* * *

Finally,

Somewhere, in a place where things existed and could never exist,

Some time, in a time that could and could not take place

Sat a person that could and could not exist.

He was grinning

He was grinning wildly

A smile marked by memory and fondness of what was long gone.

"Oi took 'im long enough."

He licked his black stained lips and stood.

He looked at the sight, feeling the joy of his youth.

He saw something he had never thought to see again.

"Looks like I got a job tuh do."

* * *

 **Hello all. Long time no see for those returning. Thanks for reading**

 **Please R** **eview. All reviews are welcome for this reboot.**

 **Be sure to follow because I'm updating this 7/22/2018**


	2. Chapter 1: Rough Landings

To those in Pieta looking up at the overwhelming night sky, the infinite expanse above was truly unfathomable. The night was calm, not a cloud hid the stars from those few bothered to watch rather than simply glance. To those few that bothered to stare, the sight was unremarkable. It was the same sight many had seen every other night and those with heavier eyes turned in quickly. It was only the sleepless that would catch a glimpse of what was to come, the ones that could not let sleep take them.

One moment, there was darkness - a flash brought a blue light slicing through the sea of black. This illuminating presence burned brighter than any star as if taking its brothers' lights as it soared through the expanse.

A father prayed when his eyes came to the skies. He hoped that his god had given him a sign as he made the call for help.

A warrior's eyes wandered from his charge. The sight of the blue light left him empty, but hopeful for what was to come.

Another warrior was wary of the sight. A life of secrets did much to stir caution but in time, she appreciated its fleeting presence.

Those that missed the sight would turn to see the light, only to find nothing again. It had fallen far too quickly, and it pulled the spirit of those that missed its glory. For a fraction of that number, however, something called. It was hard to make out in the dark, the all-consuming blackness, but those that did see found it's bleeding tail, oozing crimson as it fell as well.

Two lovers waited in silence. One grew impatient and turned away but the other felt the inklings of danger beyond the horizon.

A snake watched the star leak what looked to be its lifeblood. She felt a kinship to the falling form; she felt as though it was running away ... or perhaps it was looking for something?

One leader sat alone in the dark, fingers tensing as he saw the sight. It was death, but he could only hope it was not his.

The two stars had faded, one black as night with streaks of the darkest crimson along its edges and the other a beacon in the dark. Though many saw one or the other, they did not see both. It would be the talk of the town, the city, the country … but the talk would fade. Too many arguments and foolish theories were swept under a rock as silence fell over the night, the next night, and again, the next.

Only one had seen both.

* * *

A small fire crackled in the night, glinting amongst the rolling sand dunes. A woman clad in a white uniform and silver armor stood staring off into the stars as she rested around the fire. The sky was a clear black mass littered with a chorus of stars that lit the skies and it came to be a calming presence for the female warrior. Her nights, like this one, usually involved red tinges of color and it was a relief to see that her world did not adopt the same red flare.

She lay flat on her back as the crackling fires warmed her body. Off in the distance, she could see the desert sands change into a richer earthen soil. The thick forest land seemed like a large contrast compared to the dead sand she rested upon. Before she could continue in her thoughts, she noticed movement in the forest and recognized the figure that emerged from its dark shadows.

"Rubel," she said to the tall thin man. She sat up in attention, eye leering at the man, "I take it that you have another assignment for me."

The man only responded with a smile to the warrior in front of him while his black hat, sunglasses, and dark cloak hid most of his features. If there was one word to describe Rubel, it would have to be creepy, but even that didn't encompass him in his entirety.

"Eager as always Claire," he responded keeping his smiling façade, "I found the Yoma you killed back there. Quite remarkable."

"I did what was needed."

"Hmm, I suppose so," he said, chuckling to himself as he spoke, "You've gotten a lot better at this."

She didn't respond to his comment, letting the silence answer for her. She watched Rubel as he gave an uncaring shrug, but Claire sensed his disappointment. Then again, whether it was disappointment or something else, she could not say for certain. Most black-robed men were enigmas and Rubel was the most enigmatic of them all with that sly smile of his creeping along in her mind's eye.

"Yes, there was another request. Just one or two yoma."

"Then I will leave in the morning," she said, her body slowly adjusting to a relaxed sitting position. Rubel aimed another smirk in her direction and said nothing else. She waited for his footsteps to grow faint before she looked up again. Peace and quiet were so hard to come by, but she had chosen this path. At least the stars could grant her solace . . . before she returned to the violence.

She let the quiet take her, closing her eyes to what was to come – the coming day. She waited for a moment and as the silence took over, she opened her eyes again to the sky.

It was empty, but she had gotten lucky once. Perhaps she'd get lucky again.

* * *

 **Lightning, Blood, and Steel**  
  
Chapter 1: Rough Landings

* * *

Heaven felt like shit.

At least, that's where he thought he was; where else would he have gone? He couldn't have gone to hell, could he? There was a scent of soot around him, maybe something charred near him. Cole reached out with his hand as far as he could, feeling for the ground around him before he felt his hand slide down against a curved surface.

Dust and dirt – neither hot nor cold – was all he could feel in his immediate proximity. Either it was a terrible version of heaven with malfunctioning pearly gates to greet him, an off-brand part of hell that didn't even meet heating requirements ... or he was still alive.

"God damn it," Cole grunted as he felt himself down. He had trouble opening his eyes, so he did his best to make sure he was in one piece. His head was there, arms and legs followed, and even his clothes were with him. The touch of cooled metal in the shape of his trusty handmade weapon only cemented reality as he finally tore open the tired organs and saw a clear night sky framed by concave walls of dirt.

He was alive.

Instincts kicked in with thoughts of survival kicking the hardest. Pulling himself to his feet, he looked around himself noting the bowl-shaped cavity that led down towards his position. It was oddly reminiscent to his little Ray Sphere event, but instead of being held up on a pedestal, he was in the crater itself eating the dirt. Maybe it was a bomb.

Did the RFI explode? He shook his head, memories flooding. No, it couldn't have been. He was in New Marais ... in front of a church. Why were there forests around him? He quickly found his footing, any sort of aches or pains leaving him as he ran out of the crater. It felt good to move, a familiar action in an unfamiliar place and time. It was only natural for him to send out his Radar Pulse when he got out. The action had been so ingrained, it was practically instinct to try and feel out power from -

Nothing.

Nothing?

That was strange, a little too strange. Electricity was everything to Cole. It was his lifeblood, his essence, his power, and almost like a drug to him. He tended to know the difference between a vibrant city or some shack run on self-made power, compared to a complete blackout. He felt muted in blackouts like he lost his hearing and his sense of smell at the same time. It wasn't completely debilitating, but he knew when he wasn't around a power source.

After several other Radar Pulses, Cole couldn't feel a single damn spark around him, no matter how hard he tried. Oh, he tried - far more than what was necessary, but Cole couldn't afford to half-ass this. He tried them in quick succession, each pushing further out into the forest before he stopped. Then he tried to wait a moment, gathering himself as he focused heavily. Nothing was working, but every time he sent out the pulse, his senses were still as clear as day and they all told him he was all alone.

Until he found something stirring right next to him.

The sudden pop of this source nearly had him jumping as he turned around. It was the equivalent of feeling someone shaking him from behind when focusing on something else, a feeling he had rather missed ever since he received these powers. After all, nothing could surprise him when he could practically feel them from a city block away ... or shooting at him.

As he looked towards the presence, his eyes were guided by the faint inkling of power to look towards another clearing. Moonlight barely slipped through the collapsed remains of splintered wood, but from what he could see, a ring of dirt encircled a collapsed crater just like his own.

So was there someone down there as well?

Cole didn't take a second thought. He moved over to the closest branch and grabbed the fallen branches and dragged them off. While the actual action wasn't too difficult, the sheer number of leaves were getting annoying. The larger logs had to be leveraged off with his Amp and already, it was like he never left New Marais.

"Hey! HEY!" he shouted down in a hoarse voice. It was hard to get a good look what was under the branches, but he could still feel a weak presence, "Hang in there. I'll get you out."

By the time he had gotten the last large branch, Cole saw movement, a hooded figure slowly starting to stir. Black leather covered the man's torso as wing shaped etchings seemed to glow on his back. Cole thought it a trick of the light or his own electric vision toying with him. A conduit? Didn't look like anyone he knew. Maybe it was some unlucky bastard that got caught in the blast. Either way, Cole was reaching for the man's hand, or what he thought was a man, and intended on helping the guy to his feet. The dude was a lot heavier than he looked and when Cole pulled, he stumbled just enough as he tried to get a look at the guy's face.

Cole didn't expect to see a hand stab into his stomach.

* * *

He was drowning.

Alex didn't need to breathe, eat, sleep, or do basically anything the average living creature would have to do ... but he learned the feeling from plenty of other people's experiences. It was that feeling of being surrounded, death clenching his throat in a vice as he tried to swim up. The only problem was, there was nothing to swim up to. Where was up? Where was down? Hell, where the hell was he supposed to be?

His senses weren't working. Touch and hearing felt muted by some invisible layer that encased him. Perhaps he wasn't even anywhere? A prison of his own flesh was a perfect cage to trap the ultimate biological weapon. He was always weak in the mind after all. Every memory and voice in his head had to be caged behind lock and key, an irony now that he considered it. Now, with his strangely weakened state, to simply comprehend the world meant pulling every bit of energy in his flesh and pushing. Where he pushed, he did not know, but it at least was doing something.

"Hey! HEY!" A voice cut through the miasma, the surgeon's knife cutting him out.

"Hang in there. I'll get you out."

It was what he needed, yes, the familiar sensation of another conscious being. He focused, trying his hardest to simply move his sluggish, weak form. Fingers twitched and answered as they clawed at the dirt with their primitive, human feelers. As his senses grew clearer, each step the voice took, Alex felt himself again.

Hungry.

Alex struck the moment he felt balanced on his feet, right arm aimed at the guts. It wouldn't be a quick death, but he preferred to not waste even a second to aim properly. He didn't bother transforming his hand either. It'd slow him down. He tried to flex his fingers, maybe tear some organs before he made his way to the heart.

Nothing of the sort greeted him other than a white-hot pain that surged into his flesh.

What bodily replacement his flesh made for nerve endings broiled as he pulled back as Alex scowled with his eyes wide open. He could smell his own flesh burning and he was reeling back to assess damage when he felt something hard smash into his face.

This wasn't humanly difficult to be honest; Alex had shouldered men that could beat tanks back with punches. This hit was hard enough to snap his jaw off, or at least the fleshy imitation of what looked like a human jaw. If anything, it was harder to do, even in this state of confusion.

A quick gaggle of tendrils ran across his face, restoring its proper form. Alex's eyes focused on his helper/attacker, whatever, and pulled his arms up expecting another bout of retaliation. Instead, he saw the human figure lay on his back, clutching his stomach. To his side was an oversized, metal tuning fork splashed with a blood along one of the teeth. Like Alex, the man was eyeing his fellow opponent, while occasionally flicking his eyes down and back up again.

Alex gritted his teeth; the wound should have killed the man. What was more annoying was that this marked a first for Alex, a first in his failure to eat a target by the target's own hand. Once Alex had them in his grasp, they were as sure as consumed, if not fucking dead. The only times he had ever failed at eating a body was when he was hit in the face with a rocket or hit straight on by an equally powerful strike. There was always a damn third party to stop him, but not this guy.

He tried feeling his fingers as a numbness took over. The regeneration was slow and worse yet, this buzzcut headed stranger was far from dead, albeit wounded. First the damn Supreme hunter and now this guy; Alex was getting all sorts of surprises.

"What the hell was that for?"

Alex froze, tensing as the man stood up with his tuning fork in hand. Alex scrambled up to his feet to keep up, not wanting to give the stranger an advantage. It was surprising to see the man wasn't outright hostile, even if he was wary of Alex. Lord knew Alex would have immediately retaliated and as for why Alex wasn't going up and ending this stranger right then and there ... hmm, he didn't know why. Shock? Curiosity? A mix of the two? He shook his head, deciding to take things one step at a time. This stranger had yet to strike at him, save for the retaliating blow to push Alex back. He was stronger than a human and then there was the whole burning-flesh sensation when Alex stabbed the man's gut, so some kind of ability then?

"Force of habit. Don't do that again or it might not end well for you," Alex replied. The words came out cautiously as his flesh slowly fizzled back to normal across his hand. The man gave Alex an incredulous look, slowly raising himself to full height as he looked at Alex in bewilderment.

"Lucky me."

Alex scoffed. The man was still holding his gut, but Alex had yet to smell blood. Regeneration? No, the man was too worried to be unscathed just yet so perhaps something partial. Alex recalled the searing pain he felt from the man's stomach. The man certainly had some kind of countermeasure against him, though whether if it was designed specifically for Alex or something innate, he couldn't tell. Thoughts raced through Alex's mind as he considered his options over this strange individual and Alex started checking his surroundings, a crater befitting a small meteor rather than something of his magnitude. He rubbed his foot around the ground but curiously found no trace of radiation ... or heat, burnt metal or anything. Now that he thought about it, he never felt the heat of the nuke. All he could remember was a hazy white light and ... fuck, that numbness. He instinctively scratched at his leg, confirming he wasn't dreaming or feeling that odd sensation from before.

"Where are we?" Alex demanded, slowly turning around as he gave his surroundings a thorough inspection.

"Excuse me?" the stranger asked.

"I asked where we were."

"Ugh," Alex turned to see the man massaging his temples, "You know, where I'm from, when a guy starts feeling up another guy's stomach like that, the least they can do is ask things like, 'Hey, how's it going. My name is-'"

"I don't have time," Alex said straightforwardly before turning around once more. Hearing footsteps from behind, he glared back, seeing the stranger closer than before.

"Holy shit, relax," the man spat as he closed the distance. He had a casual gait, no longer holding his stomach as he looked up with Alex.

"Where are we," Alex repeated, trying to see the star-riddled sky.

The stranger turned to look Alex's way, "You're asking me?"

"I would have assumed since you're here to greet me."

"Oh, and I'm the asshole that brought you here. 'Magic spell summon me my fairy goth-mother. Only the broodiest and gloomiest can help me now,'" the man scowled, shaking his head, "Buddy, I was here cause I saw you curled up in this crater and I went down to help. It's called common courtesy, you know?"

Alex grit his teeth. The stranger talked like Dana, all without the familial connection and the familiarity. With Dana, it was like getting to know a long lost family member. This guy ... this guy was just an idiot. Alex shrugged and slowly bent his knees. At first, he didn't feel much, but soon enough, the familiar sensation of gathered flesh pulsated near his thighs. His legs shuddered against the pressure and with his remembered timing, Alex launched himself up into the air leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. Alex could barely hear the man comment but from what he could hear, it was something akin to 'Holy Shit.'

He tore past the trees, higher than the greenery could ever hope to reach and looked all around to see a sea of green. The sight irked him. The last sea had gotten a glimpse of was the waters near New York City. No nuclear debris, no fallout, no burnt surfaces, just forest as far as the eye could see.

Then again, he wasn't looking too far.

Alex focused his eyes first for Viral signature before switching to a Heat detection. The first sparked a slight surprise, zero viral signatures. That was good. There wasn't even a hint of the virus other than his own aura. Switching to Heat detection gave equally assuring results. There were healthy smatterings of heat and pockets of outlines red all around. While he could not see the shape of buildings, he could make out some nominal gathering of people that indicated healthy humans. It was a ... good sight to see. As he gave everything a closer inspection, he noticed a set of shapes milling about close by. They weren't wandering, and the eight heat signatures looked gathered around something. No buildings ... so camping? There weren't any fires either; these individuals were probably sleeping.

As he came back down, he braced for the ground, smashing into the curved side of the crater as he formed another indentation. Spiderweb cracks crunched underneath as he gave his legs a shake. It all felt good like nothing had happened. Alex suddenly remembered the man that had been next to him and looked around, seeing the stranger some ways away.

"Jesus, okay, you don't need help."

Alex shrugged, walking out of the crater slowly as he remembered where the group had been. He'd get answers and, if they weren't compliant, some food.

Turning to the stranger, Alex nodded slightly, "Goodbye."

And he was off.

* * *

What the fuck.

It had been a while since he had used the word fuck. Ever since he had been with Trish, she had tried her hardest to stamp out the worst of his vocabulary. Trish had insisted on his self-censorship due to her background, her upbringing in a household with so much swearing and violence. To even imagine growing up with her sister in that household was enough to get Cole to agree. He wouldn't want her experiencing anything like that when they were together.

Of course, he wondered if the same situation applied when seeing flying hooded weirdos bolting right up into the sky and landing without a scratch. Jeez, the guy had even reached terminal velocity and looked more annoyed than shaken.

"Jesus, okay, you don't need help."

Cole figured the hooded man would have said something else, though, given the man's track record, the stranger wasn't much of a talkative type. The man's list of responses and questions had basically been about where they were and 'goodbye.' Perhaps Cole had been around too many talkative opponents, too many assholes trying to spout philosophy or say how much they wanted to kill him ... but that was what this guy was, wasn't he, a bad guy?

Cole's stomach region was still aching when the man darted off, kicking dust behind. The conduit half considered letting the man go; Cole would have one less headache to deal with until he got his bearings. Thoughts of the stranger's attack, however, left Cole quiet and contemplating. Sure, it wasn't supposed to be fatal, but still, the man had stabbed, not punched, stabbed into his body with his hand. The motion and sensation of something slicing into him was so foreign and alien, but then again, so was the recovery. What was that shock he gave the man? Cole was already feeling better when normally, he'd need half a day to recover from bullet or knife wounds like that.

Without another word, Cole resigned himself to following the man's presence, hauling ass as he suddenly flicked his hand over to the edge of the crater. A long, electric whip-like construct snapped up against the edge and tugged him forward with so much force that he nearly dropped his amp. Jesus, that was strong, stronger than usual. He put his Amp on his back to be safe and let it click into the pack's holster. A quick radar pulse and Cole was following behind, albeit at a much slower pace.

"This guy could run circles around me," Cole thought as he tried to pick up the pace. Without any sort of electricity lines to rail onto, he was basically beat in terms of complete speed. He did try and accelerate through other means such as using Ice Jumps, but Cole was hesitant to waste his internal charge. Even if it felt like he had an infinite pool, he had been fooled before.

A combination of tethers and jumps kept Cole from losing the stranger, but a well of frustration was starting to pool at the bottom of his gut. The jumping, the speed, the stabbing, it was all kind of humiliating, to be honest. Cole wasn't much for showing off, but the guy had basically done whatever he felt like before he ran for the woods, literally. It really ticked Cole the wrong way, the worst way really. He really wasn't thinking too much when he suddenly started to notice the figure slowing down.

At least, that was what he thought at first. The distance was slowly closing as Cole felt himself hit a branch, only for it to snap out of his direction as he ran to his target. He slowly began to see the rest of the trees, only he wasn't really seeing them; he was mostly seeing blurred images that were flying past him as he sprinted his mind off. Was this really him? He didn't feel his energy pool depleting either so what the hell was going on?

Oh hell, who cared. This felt amazing.

It was only when the stranger came to a complete stop that Cole finally realized how fast he was running. The distance between them was disappearing within a blink of an eye and Cole had to slam his Amp down into the ground with all his strength. Cole was barely half a second away, amp throwing up dirt and tree roots from behind when the stranger turned and rolled to the side. Fast reaction, probably faster than Cole's. Fast reactions like that would be useful to have, but Cole only had his senses to work with as he hurdled on forward.

Only for whiplash to snap him back.

The sheer force of whatever stopped him, and the range of motion that followed should have snapped his neck. He'd broken limbs before and had even fractured his neck at a particularly bad fall, so he knew when he should have broken his neck. Only thing was when he slammed into his rescuer, Cole still felt every nerve on his body fire off. No pain entered from the spine, nor were there any numbed sensations telling him he had lost feeling below the neck. He may as well have landed on his butt from rest, though that wouldn't explain the explosion of splinters.

His instincts screamed for him to get away. From what, he could not say, but his instincts had never failed him before. He tore himself out of whatever had taken him, rolling away before he turned to see – oh, it was the stranger. The man was scowling his way, his back firmly lodged inside a destroyed tree. Hadn't the hooded weirdo dodged him? How did he pull Cole back? Cole swore he could see something move behind the stranger, yet another trick of the light, but for whatever reason, his vision saw flickerings of red hues that licked the air. Again, it meant danger ... but then again, he had been around Nix with a similar aura.

"What the fuck was that?" The man hissed, pulling himself out of the tree's remains, "You would have run me down at that rate."

"Holy shit, my bad. I'm just a bit worked up is all," Cole laughed as he tried breathing. Funny thing was that, despite all his heavy breaths, he felt no need for such air. It was his own bodily instincts to take in the air even as it seemed to mean nothing to him. He took a second to stop breathing and found peace. This coupled with his new found strength and speed was starting to feel a bit overwhelming.

The stranger awkwardly dusted himself off and pulled out pieces of wood stuck in his clothes. The man seemed to ignore Cole's self-comments as he asked, "Any reason why you're following me?"

Cole grunted, rolling his eyes, "I got a sixth sense for things, for people. You, my friend, give me some bad vibes."

"Heh," the stranger scoffed, "Is that it. Just bad vibes? Am I supposed to believe you don't recognize me, my face, my clothes, anything? Don't play dumb with me."

Cole paused a moment, really taking in the words for a second. Was the guy really that arrogant about himself? The only people Cole would consider recognizable clothes-wise would be movie or video game characters ... and this guy was no Sly Cooper or Mario.

"Got a name?"

Again, another growl, "Alex Mercer, the 'bio-terrorist' that held down New York City."

Bio-terrorist ... okay, that was a little strange.

"I'm sorry, do you introduce yourself to everyone like that? Is that what it says on your business card or something?"

"You're joking. You should have heard something about me."

Alex – Cole gave the man the benefit of the doubt – looked taken aback. He seemed less annoyed with the joke and more concerned with the lack of recognition. Again, a little self-centered, but then again, the guy called himself a bio-terrorist sarcastically. Lord knew Cole had experiences with people giving him fake titles.

"I dunno, do you have a Channel twelve for terrorist gossip?"

A confused expression came over the hooded man and it almost made Cole feel bad, though Cole wanted to snicker when the man genuinely seemed to ask, "Is that ... I mean. I assumed the news ... do people-"

"It's a joke," Cole said with a frown. Was the guy ... autistic? It was a legitimate question and, honestly, it could make sense – not very sociable, quiet and broody, awkward with introductions and so on. Cole had met a fair share of kids and adults with some range of the condition during his time in Empire City and New Marais; he found them to be a little difficult to interact with, but they were all normal enough folks.

Course, none of them had that sickly reddish, black aura like Alex had. Alex was starting to grow frustrated, or at least, that was what Cole could tell. The man had a more pronounced frown and the light around the man was flickering about. He was getting anxious, but why?

"New York is a quarantined dead zone because of me."

Cole shook his head. He may have had some college education, but the last he checked, there weren't any bioterrorists that held New York hostage, let alone put it in a quarantine. The only person Cole knew people talked about doing that was ... well, himself.

"Well I hate to break it to you, but whatever you did ... I don't think it matters anymore? Shit, no, that's not the right way to say it."

"What?" Alex was laser-focused on his words, "What do you mean it doesn't matter?"

"Ehh," Cole bit his lip, "Hmm, shit, how do I put this in a nice way?"

He took a good hard minute trying his best to come up with the best possible way to explain things. Lord knew he wasn't the most verbose when it came to this stuff, but he was at least going to try.

"Well, Empire City, and I guess most of New York too - it's gone."

The man hung on each word, pausing for a while before he asked, "Gone?"

"Yea ... gone."

"Gone as in-"

"Burned to the ground. It's all ashes now."

Alex's eyes narrowed, his voice getting lower as he growled back, "I swear to god if you're fucking lying-"

"Hey, I just told you what I know. What's the point in lying? This is the truth. New York is gone and Empire city is gone. I'm sorry."

The hooded man went quiet at this, "After all I did ..."

Cole let the man talk, only muttering a bit, "Sorry."

"Did anyone get away?"

"I mean, those that saw ahead of time, but ... yea, not likely."

"Dana," Alex massaged his temples, both hands on his face as he got to his knees, "All of it, fighting the infected, chasing the general – all for nothing."

Okay, that was a little weird. He didn't recall infected being able to fight-

"I wasted my time. I shouldn't have messed around on that aircraft carrier."

Again, weird, but nothing too strange-

"I should have gotten rid of the nuke faster."

Hold up now - WHAT?

That really flipped Cole's alarm, but before he could say anything, something tickled his senses. Alex may have been distracted, but Cole was plenty alert as he sent out a radiating pulse of electricity. Trees took the brunt of the sensory shock as it usually did, but faint shimmers of light began to eerily shine back at him. These lights were standing still, numbering in half a dozen targets as they shimmered with a deep reddish tone.

Something was watching them.

* * *

 **Please Read and Review**

 **Also, please PM/Review me if you're interested in being a Beta reader.**

 **Thanks.**

 **7/29/2018 for the next chapter**


	3. Chapter 2: Blood In The Air

"Hey, HEY," Cole grunted as he tried to get the downed man to stand. Alex had a thousand-yard stare, the look Cole had seen repeated back to him in the days following the blast. Cole worried for a moment, wondering if he'd have to do something drastic when Alex finally snapped to attention, blinking and almost looking at the group coming towards them. Did the guy have an ability like his own? Well, whatever it was, Alex was starting to back up ever so slightly, while still being a little defensive towards Cole.

"Call me paranoid, but something's fucky about these guys," Cole said as he followed suit

Alex kept quiet but nodded, "Fucky ... sounds appropriate."

Cole sent another pulse, probing the area around them with his electric senses. Lo and behold, the red auras radiating from these individuals were as strong as ever, if not stronger due to the slowly closing distance between them. There was no denying now that whoever was approaching wasn't very friendly. Cole spied on Alex's sickly aura again, finding it as dark and dingy as ever ... but at least it didn't seem overtly hostile to him.

Cole slowly began to ready his Amp, pulling the metal weapon off his back as he looked Alex's way, "You do anything else other than jumping and running?"

"Plenty," Alex took a more relaxed posture, keeping his stance open while lowering his arms. His voice sounded clear and determined like it was just another day. Clearly, danger didn't hit Alex as hard as grief did and it was something Cole could understand.

"I see six."

Alex didn't respond, only giving Cole a look before he turned. Cole watched the group come in hearing distance. They took their sweet time fanning out into the bushes, but they weren't completely circling them. Only a pair managed to cut around as the front four broke the underbrush. Where the other two was, he couldn't say, but Alex had said there were two more, so Cole tried to keep his eye out. As the moonlight came through on their stalkers, Cole caught sight of their humanoid shapes. It was strange to see, honestly, random people walking through a dense forest without a lick of light to guide them. No flashlights? No fire or anything? Cole shook his head, waiting as the first four came walking out.

The first thing that struck Cole were their clothes. He had seen rough clothes before with the homeless, hell, he had been homeless once or twice before he had gotten his shit together and he had never seen anyone with as plain clothes as these folks. They practically wore rough linens fit for potato bags rather than actual clothes. Their shoes weren't any better either, looking like rough fittings made by hand. Before long, the four had stopped a fair distance away. Cole looked at what seemed like the leader of the group and nodded. His pulse kept watch on the two guys behind them and Cole even noticed Alex's attention snapping back between the hiding two and the open four.

"You two are a strange looking pair," was the first thing they said, much to Cole's annoyance. He had a lax look to him, but maybe a bit too lax as he leaned up against a tree.

"I could say the same for you," Cole responded, and the man nodded back.

"Lost then? You have the look on you - not a clue where you are."

Yea ... that's not creepy at all. Did the guy have to phrase things like that?

"What do you want?" Cole said, deciding to push through the bullshit.

The man looked confused, "We're just here to offer shelter. It's dangerous out here at night. Yoma lurk in these woods."

Yoma?

Cole kept his poker face on, trying not to relay any sort of information to the strange men. Despite the non-threatening stance, Cole could still see the red glow surrounding the men and all Cole could think about was that piece of shit, Bertrand. As Cole looked to Alex, he was surprised that Alex wasn't saying anything, given the impatient vibe Alex had given beforehand. Instead, the brooding man was just standing there with his arms folded as he looked on.

The poor guy probably couldn't read people like Cole could, so Cole turned back to the strangers. He lowered his amp and was about to speak when suddenly, the conduit felt something tugging at his shoulder. As Cole looked back, Alex's hand was holding him back, but Alex wasn't looking at Cole. His eyes glared darkly forward.

"Where are the other two?"

All the strangers stopped in their tracks, even the two behind Cole and Alex. Clearly, the man's words set them off ... but what did the guy mean by 'the other two?' Had Alex met them before? No, that wasn't likely. He sounded hostile and his aura seemed to roll back in on itself, like one of those underground spiders nestling in its burrow. Alex was ready to pounce ... and while Cole could agree the guys weren't friendly, they were at least amicable enough to let Cole and Alex talk. Cole wanted to kick Alex, just to shut him up before he made anything worse until he noticed something off.

A distant smell ticked at his nose as Cole's nose twitched.

"Other two?" the one man said with a laugh, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"The other two that were with you," Alex said, his tone just above a growl as he inquired darkly.

The man's smile turned into a thin line before he responded softly, "Oh, you must be talking to the two behind you-"

"Where are the two others you had over that way," Alex said as he pointed off to some unknown location.

Cole was starting to get a sinking feeling about the four before him. They were looking amongst thinly veiled human faces but moved like wolves. Shadows were cast across their faces as they ruminated in the dark. They gathered themselves, coming closer as they went shoulder to shoulder. It was then that Cole began to realize what the smell had been. It had been a while since he had encountered the scent, but he recalled a particularly devastating accident prior to his discovery of the electric powers. A 4-car pileup brought in ambulances, police and fire trucks, but before they had quarantined the crash, he got a whiff of the smell.

He would never forget the scent of cooked blood.

"Answer the question," Cole said suddenly pulling his amp up. He tugged his shoulder away from Alex as he glared. Were these ... were these cannibals? What kinda shit did he just step in? Suddenly their potato sack clothes and rough looking bodies had a new kind of meaning, the kind that evoked horror stories of cannibal freaks in the wilderness. Alas, that image and theory went right out the window when he heard something crackling.

The darkness covered it at first, but Cole's radar pulse showed something else. Their silhouettes, still gleaming that harsh red coloration was now twisting along with their auras. No longer were they just hostile. Their red lights snapped at the surrounding air with a hungering viciousness. As he let the pulse fad, Cole slowly saw their shapes slide back into the moonlight. These new forms sported claws and yellow eyes that glinted like a predator in the night. Their images may have sported the same basic humanoid shape of two arms, two legs and a head, but they were not human. They were insults to the very definition of human and Cole stood their blinking at the sight.

What the hell was this?

"I knew we should'a just killed them," the leader said as Cole's eyes registered what was happening.

Was that their fingers firing at them?

* * *

 **Lightning, Blood, and Steel**

Chapter 2: Blood in the Air

* * *

Alex snapped into action, his mind focusing everything on dodging the strange projectiles. He minimized his movements either turning or inching out of the way as he felt air rush past his skin. The other man – Alex had yet to get the guy's name – dodged as well, but his movement overshot as he dove out of the way. It seemed that most of the attacks were aimed at the buzz cut male as he rolled several more times before he got his bearings.

Alex didn't know if he was impressed or annoyed, but he quickly scrubbed the thought from his head. He had other things to worry about like how these creatures were attacking. From what he could tell, their projectiles were not projectiles at all, rather they seemed to shoot their fingers out via extension. Curious, seemed a bit inefficient in creating extensions, then again, perhaps they had the same mechanics as his whip-like armament.

Could that mean these creatures were Infected- No, wait a moment. He cycled through his vision, checking for signs of the virus only to find a dull coloration on them. They were clean.

"Hey, you!" Alex shouted, "Deal with the back two. I take point."

"My name's Cole, not 'hey, you' di-" was the last thing Alex cared to listen to as he dove into the fray.

While not as strong as the jump, Alex's dash to the four humanoid creatures had enough speed and power to catch one off guard. The other three seemed to lunge out of the way as Alex gave the creature a face full of knuckles. The strike hit hard, so hard that brain matter and skull bits ejected out the back of the creature's head en masse. Alex snapped his arm back, jerking the body off his hand to inspect the damage.

His fist had torn through the cranium completely, pulverizing the nose and cheek area while leaving a fist-sized hole through where the eyes should have been. The attack had been so gory that it even gave Alex pause. He'd never done this to a human before ... mostly because he preferred eating them. Why Alex thought to give the creatures the same kind of threat level as hunters, he could not say, but this lack of fleshy resistance was going to be annoying to deal with.

"Hmm," Alex ruminated, "You're a lot squishier than you look."

The sight of their fallen comrade seemed to stun the three remaining humanoids. Perhaps they were realizing that their status as predators were being threatened, a thought that tickled Alex's fancy. In any case, an ordinary animal might have scrambled for safety, but Alex doubted these things would do so. Conscious beings always failed at recognizing threats beyond one's comprehension.

So, when he saw them suddenly scatter for a flank, Alex was unsurprised as he took a defensive posture. He had never seen these beings fight before but combat always broke down into fundamental elements, regardless of the combatant. A faster reaction speed and an itch in his head had him eyeing all three creatures at once.

 _Right side towards the face. Lunging for the neck._

Alex took to defense, pulling his head back and his posture upwards as he kept his flesh away from the creature's claws.

 _Left side reaching for stomach._

He took another dodge backwards, pulling his legs along with him as he fixed his posture.

 _Middle one, height advantage. Shooting/extending fingers at downward angle._

Now it was his chance to strike.

With the side pair recovering from their momentum, Alex, lunged between the pair, diving around their attacks as he aimed for the two grounded monsters. His two free hands clamped down on the wrists, crushing flesh and bone as he ran past. The two creatures slammed into each other as they were dragged along by their crushed limbs and to hear their screams of agony, followed by several heavy thuds, was both satisfying and informative. They were writhing along as he dragged them but he had to run under the middle one as the finger attacks hit empty ground.

Following his momentum, Alex pulled the pair around and around, tugging them up off the ground with his superior strength. They were helpless to stop him as he suddenly spun once, twice, then three times towards several thick trees. As their bodies made contact with the bark, Alex could feel their torsos splatter while demolishing the very canvas of the trees themselves. Alex watched their bodies collapsed in on themselves, their heads crushed and mutilated before being forcibly smashed downwards into their chest cavity, through the collarbone. He didn't know what killed the two ragdolls, the sheer force of the concussion or the blood loss caused by organ compression. Either way, Alex had certainly done a piece of work. He had never turned people into turtles before.

"Three dead, one alive," Alex snarled.

Again, he was mentally berating himself for his overriding bloodlust, but at least he still had one survivor to get a taste for. The creature had only just looked back to see Alex toss the two other bodies away, their compressed forms still spurting blood across the trees. For a moment, Alex saw a shred of humanity in the guy, at least the part of humanity he had seen the most. Those trembling eyes, the haggard breath – yes, fear seemed to transcend the language barrier quite easily. To its credit, the freak wasn't about to give Alex a free meal. It tried to turn and dart for the woods, hoping to catch him in its dust. Alex rolled his eyes, and waited, watching as it tried to zip around the trees to try and confuse him. As amusing as it may have been to see it panic, Alex rolled his shoulders, letting his right hand slither with tendrils before they consumed his arm.

A sharp pronged edge shined for a single second before it flew. Alex's aim had always been perfect, and even as the panicking freak was doing his best to dart around and now sprinting for its life, Alex could not be stopped. The attack came swiftly as the whip-like attack sliced into the air between the trees and shrubbery that the creature had so desperately used as a shield. The moment his arm met resistance, Alex reared back, and he could hear the creature's howling get louder. The monster was shouting, screaming for its life as it flew back towards Alex. As a face of shock came on the creature's hideous face, Alex glared with an empty stare as he hid his satisfaction.

"Always running," Alex said, his eyes looking towards where the man named "Cole" should have been. Cole looked like he was doing work, taking on two of the monsters at once. A few too many times Cole seemed to overstep or move a little too quickly, causing him to lose balance, but he always seemed to get back on his feet as he rolled or took hits with that tuning fork of his. A part of him wanted to leave the man and go find a quiet place to eat. He had already wasted time with these freaks and every second lost meant Alex wasn't getting his hands on black-

Suddenly, Alex covered his eyes. The only reason why he seemed to hold on to his prey was cause the creature did the same, screeching about being blind.

A flash of light? From what?

Alex forced his eyes to adjust to the brightness, cells upon cells dying and regenerating just to comprehend the sight as he saw ... Electricity?

The man was generating power and firing it out of his hands. The attack sent chills down Alex's proverbial spine, reminding him of their initial meeting. These blue bolts came out as flurries of crackling chaos, ripping through trees, dirt and all the sort. How Cole managed to control this was beyond Alex's comprehension. Cole didn't look very confident in his control either, what with how he was holding himself. The guy was on one knee, bracing himself against the ground as he gripped his wrist against the chaos of his hand.

An electric man, curious. Alex's innate scientific mind whispered to him, telling him to watch the anomaly further. This man was a very possible threat ... but that would mean putting his squirming meal for later, which only gave it a chance to escape. If he knew anything, a bird in one hand was worth more than two in the brush.

"Let's make this quick," Alex said as he plunged his hand into the creature's gut, infected flesh reaching for this monster's body as Alex ate it alive. It shouldn't take long. A freakish creature like this guy was probably half-deranged so he doubted he'd find too many memories to deal with. Of course, he had forgotten something very crucial, something that had passed his head when he had let his bloodlust overtake him. These creatures, while certainly monsters, had enough brain power to have conscious thought. They had shown planning, pleasure, and fear ... and to say that Alex was surprised when a surge of important memories flooded into his head once more was an understatement.

His head felt like it was going to explode.

* * *

Cole's eyes darted towards the sound of painful yelling, even as he tried to hold on. Cole would have preferred to keep his electric powers on the down low, but the finger blasting freaks had pushed him to the brink, even with his newly discovered upgrade. They were fast! Probably fast enough to jump tall buildings in a single leap and dart around humans before they could realize it. They would have given any of his opponents a run for their money.

Notches had been scratched into the Amp by their repeated attacks, which also indicated some impressive biology. While they weren't coordinated, they were relentless, and Cole had enough. The plan was simple; overwhelm them with a stream of his electricity or stun them long enough for him to lock them down. He wasn't thinking about killing the creatures just yet since the creatures reminded him of the Bertrand's infected.

Well ... he certainly overwhelmed them.

What the hell was this?! First the superhuman running and jumping, and now this? It felt like he was holding the power of the sun in the palm of his hand. The fireworks show had certainly scattered the two attackers, though one of them had a more literal result. One of the pair had tried to rush him down, tearing up dirt and flora as he ran towards Cole with its claws. The guy was barely an arm's length away when Cole activated his light show and, well, the guy scattered alright - over there, some bits there, a little over here ...

The other had the right mind to jump out of the way as Cole caught sight of his shocked expression. Pieces of the monster were flying off and splattering the trees in goop as Cole fired in the living monster's direction. Shots came spewing out, hitting trees and dirt alike while cooling the general area. It seemed Kuo's ice powers hadn't left him, which would be helpful in preventing a chaotic forest fire.

Before long, the chaotic mix of light and darkness had him losing his target. Cole had to clench his hand just to stop and even then, the power seemed to singe his fingers before it finally petered out.

"Shit," he said, shaking his hand as he tried to whip the pain out from his fingers. Stopping for a moment, he looked over his fingers, trying to see the damage. He'd probably need another bandage, but he'd have to deal with swelling and a blister since he didn't have anything cool to pat his hands. Surprisingly enough, however, there were no burns to speak of, either on his palm or his fingers. He'd figure there'd be a mark; even when he had first practiced his lightning bolts, they had reddened his skin and only practice prevented him from hurting himself.

There wasn't much more time to think as his senses slowed. He always had this increased perception of time with explosions, so he knew something was coming. Letting out a split-second Radar Pulse helped him see a red profile and he turned, expecting an attack from above or from the front.

For the second time tonight, he felt something stabbing into his gut.

He stumbled, his mind strangely choking on instinct. This wasn't like Alex's attack at all; the fingers that hit Cole had completely shot through, punching a hole through a gut. Pain wriggled around his wounds as he hyperventilated; bullets couldn't even wish to be as painful as this attack as it dug into him and pushed all the way through. He expected blood to start seeping out with the familiar sensation of warmth to numb the pain, at least the pain still hitting through the shock.

Warmth did come, but it wasn't what he expected. There was no messy feeling of blood sliding down his shirt nor the loss of feeling anywhere. As he felt the warmth grow, he looked down and lo and behold, there were those fingers, but what the hell were the lights coming from his stomach? Cole slowly began to realize that it wasn't Cole that was getting hotter, it was the creature's lengthened limbs that were starting to burn. The human looking monster came to notice the same strange phenomenon barely after Cole. He jerked its hand back, but the creature had buried its hand in deep. Cole grabbed at the extended fingers when it tried to lurch back, causing it to fall as he looked down at the monster. The scent of cooked flesh flooded the air with a rotten stench.

"That wasn't very smart, buddy," Cole said with a sneer, cocky as ever as the pain receded from him. He wasn't healing per say since he could feel the wound ... but it was like he didn't even need to heal. Cole's grip tightened as he moved himself closer, further spearing his gut with the monsters now tarred looking hand. The thing wasn't completely frying so it had some natural skin resistance, at least when it came to contact. He could have ended the rodeo right there, but Cole decided to play it up a bit, tugging at his attacker.

"Hey!? What's up tough guy? Where's your shitty smile now, huh?"

The creature looked up in meek resistance, its maw completely full of razor-sharp teeth. The face was disgusting, but as he dragged his amp around to strike the creature, he slowly began to pull himself to a halt. It was raising its hand over its face, a human reaction for a monster like this. As he looked closer at the face, his hand completely halted. Even with the sizzling light from Cole's stomach, the conduit could see tears slowly trickling down the eyes. He faltered in that second as a twitch pulled his smile down into a grim line; what had he been planning on doing?

For a moment, he considered doing some kind of bind on the guy, his bleeding heart blinding him as a smirk formed on the creature's face. With its hand in shielding its face, its hand pointed towards Cole as all five fingers shot forward. The attack had come so suddenly and quickly, Cole had only seconds to react, but they hit their mark. Two fingers hit his chest, one hit his neck and another his shoulder. The pinky finger, of all things, had gotten him the worst as he felt it push into his eye socket.

The monster cackled, even as its flesh burned, "There's nothing more satisfying than killing a cocky litt-"

*BOOM*

* * *

Alex jumped up from his knees at the explosion. Instincts flared, and his flesh worked itself awake, but even Alex couldn't dodge a shockwave of blood and viscera flying towards him. He stood there, shaken but not hurt, as he blinked and looked forward in disbelief. Blood and guts dripped off him and where most people would have tried to get the stuff off them, Alex's head was coming back together finally. It only took a matter of minutes to eat the caked on layer of gore and by then, he was returning completely to the land of the living, blinking once more as he looked at his hands.

What the hell were those memories?

Alex typically didn't have trouble working through the mind-numbing amounts of information sucked up into his head. His body had a real knack for smelling out and picking only important pieces of information and it usually helped keep his most vulnerable state to a minimum and ensured he wasn't head blasted by useless tidbits. The same should have happened here. Alex shouldn't have been feeling this dizzy. Instead, he was feeling weak in the knees and his body was starting to undulate in waves of flesh as his body pulsed like an overactive nerve cell.

There had been so many memories, so much information and somehow, all of it was deemed worthwhile. Memories of a life long gone, of a human in desperate measures, trickled into his head. Granns was the creature's name, and suffice it to say, the memory was clear enough to show his old humanity. He had a wife and a daughter, all of whom lived in a small community. They hoped to escape something, something that had hungered their flesh. Granns thought he was safe, but a gap in his memory jumped Alex to Granns eating. What he was eating, Alex could only guess for his vision was blurred and reddened. He recalled the burning sensation near his eyes and thought of tears; tears were what blinded the memory.

Yoma.

The name suddenly jumped out at him. So, they had fought yoma, but what were yoma? They tasted human enough, but there was a slight hint of something else in there. He couldn't tell what it was for it lacked its own autonomy and structure, preferring to meld in evenly within the human flesh ... but no matter how well it hid itself, Alex could taste it. It was the equivalent of adding soy-sauce to steak in all its off-putting glory.

That should have been enough. Yoma, memories, all that sort ... but then came the other news. His head went through the information again ... and again ... and again. He kept repeating through the same video like his head was breaking apart. The memoires blurred into other ones. Summer afternoons turned into winter solstaces. Dead parents were living. One child became two. He was being watched. Something was watching him.

He only stopped when another thought came to the virus' mind, turning away from the cuisine of human flesh. Where was Cole? The anomaly was out of his sight. When his eyes changed to read the heat in the air, he squinted at the sight of hot white lights blaring into him. Alex remembered the explosion that woke him and the gore that splattered against his face. It would be a shame if the man exploded before Alex could get a good look at the guy but as he came over, Alex found that he was about to get more than just a good look.

Cole lay on the ground and while the blood certainly encircled him, not one inch of his body was marred by the corpse's liquid. It was like the blood had avoided him - a strange sight to say the least, but Alex was beginning to focus on Cole's other oddities, namely the wounds over his body.

There was electricity crackling from Cole.

Stranger still, beyond the lights and beyond all the crackling craziness that came forth, Alex saw nothing else. There was no flesh, no blood, no organs, nothing ... and it made him all the more intrigued. His predatory curiosity tickled at the edge of his mind again, telling him to touch the lights, but he never got the chance. Alex practically darted back when Cole turned his head.

"FUCK," Cole groaned, "What happened?"

Alex, still frozen in shock, watched Cole stand as Alex literally looked through the man ... right through the hole in his head.

"What are you?" Alex hissed. He couldn't decide between killing Cole or leaving him alive for later. No longer was Cole just an anomaly, but now that Alex had seen the man's capabilities of surviving terrible damage, this anomaly was a serious threat. He wished he could eat the man; that would have made everything so god damn simple, but of course Cole had to be made specifically to be inedible.

As Cole began to gather his bearings, Alex circled his target, checking the man from all angles. Cole was slowly beginning to pat himself down, which Alex deduced was Cole's way of seeing what needed to be regrown. However, what Alex found particularly curious was Cole's reaction as his hands traced along the open wounds. At first, Cole didn't seem to notice it, that confused daze still showing in his eyes as he touched the area again. It was only when Cole slowly inched a finger through his head that he began to realize something was wrong.

"Wait ... WAIT A-"

Cole jumped up, quite a bit quicker than Alex expected for a man with a hole on his face, before Cole was checking each wound. For a moment, Cole and Alex looked just as confused at the sight. Alex was confused about Cole's reaction, since, from Alex's perspective, it was clear Cole was not used to finding holes in the face. The thought baffled Alex; if Cole wasn't human in the first place, why was the man having such a horrified look to him?

"WHY DO I HAVE A HOLE IN MY FACE!" Cole shouted before turning to Alex, "The hell did you do to me?!"

Alex took an unexpected step backward and found himself responding out of nowhere, "Me? I didn't do anything!"

"Bullshit, you hand job. Why do I have a hole in my- HOLY SHIT!" Cole jumped, eyes wide as though he had been struck with an epiphany, "How am I alive?! How the- Where- What- You got a mirror? Mirror dude? Reflective thing?! SHOW ME MY FACE! TELL ME I'M NOT CRAZY."

Alex didn't know what to think. Cole looked like he was in a state of manic insanity. He was jittery, hyper even, and Alex could barely comprehend the man's state of being as Cole looked like he was ready to explode ... literally.

With the request thrust upon him, the virus looked at his hands, not sure what to do. Reflective surface? He didn't know how to make reflective surfaces ... though he did recall being able to use his oversized blade to catch a glimpse of things behind him sometimes. Not truly thinking through the situation, Alex rolled along with Cole's energy as he felt his right arm change. He pulled the reflective surface for Cole to see.

"Is this good enou-"

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!"


	4. Chapter 3: Where Ever We Are

"There, it's done."

"Is it? Is it really?" Cole spat in exasperation, "Are we finally going to move or you wanna check again?"

Alex was pausing again, and Cole held his proverbial breath. For three times, three wasteful, time consuming moments - Cole sat while Alex inspecting the Conduit like cattle for the slaughter. In that instance, it looked as though Alex was going to release Cole, but Alex's pause brought Cole to a groan. He knew what was coming, even though wasn't tired, hungry, thirsty or anything. All he could feel was himself ... and all the potential that came with it.

The first hour of Cole's manic craze had been a mix of awe, wonder, and shouting before things quickly slumped down into a calm. It was hard not to feel insane; Cole was ... he didn't even know what the hell he was. Then there was Alex's non-human and non-conduit origins which only fueled the fire and by the time Alex had begun inspecting Cole for wounds, Cole was eager to just experiment with his abilities again. It was like Empire City and New Marais all over again, a whole avenue of possibilities just waiting for him.

Now, if only he could start running.

"Alex, Aaaaaalex," Cole said, trying to get the stranger's attention, "Hey ... HEY, you done looking?"

Alex glared his way, "I'm not the one that needs a baby sitter."

"Hey, it would be a lot easier if my fucking baby sitter could find all my wounds on the first go."

"Ugh," Alex growled looking one way and then back at Cole. He seemed eager to check something out. Why Alex was taking time out to help Cole was beyond the conduit's understanding, especially how he recalled Alex's previous behavior. The man was a grumbling, broody ass ... but for some reason, the guy was being even more thorough than Cole was with his body. Talk about convenient since Cole was hardly going to let Alex out of his sight after he found out what the crazy man was.

When Alex finally stopped and gave Cole the go ahead, Cole jumped to his feet, notably lighter than ever. Alex suggested something about Cole being something out of the realm of physics ... so naturally, Cole assumed he'd be lighter cause of that. Of course, just because he had little mass, it didn't mean Cole couldn't dish out a hit. Again, Alex had hypothesized about some gathering of mass and solidifying oneself and blah-blah-blah, etc, etc, sciency shit. So long as Cole could get a feel for what he was doing, he didn't need to know the mechanics of how he worked. He was a living battery and a potentially infinite one if Alex was correct.

God, Alex pulled a lot of answers out of his ass.

"So where to Alex," Cole said, but the hooded man rose his hand.

"Just Mercer."

"Okay, fair enough," Cole shrugged.

"Secondly, stop asking questions."

Cole blinked at the attitude but sighed. Well what did Cole expect?

"Oh, so I should shut up then? Hmm, is that it?" Cole gave Alex an exasperated look as the hooded figure sighed, "Should I buy a collar for myself too?"

"We're heading to the ... Yomas' campsite." Alex grumbled, "I still don't know about the missing two heat signatures."

"... right," Cole said unsure what else to say, "And after wards?"

"I'm making it up as I go along," Alex said before suddenly bolting into the tree line. Jesus, Alex didn't wait for anyone ... but at least they weren't standing still.

"Sounds like my kinda plan."

* * *

 **Lightning, Blood, and Steel**

Chapter 3: Where Ever We Are

* * *

Alex had to be honest with himself. He had never truly reflected on a lot of why's and why not's when it came to his actions and the more he thought about it, the less it made sense why he was cooperating with Cole Macgrath.

Oh, he'd understand observing and dissecting the conduit or, since the man had shown a clear aversion towards causing Alex's death, Alex could have been willing to do a catch, release, and observe type work with Cole, but working hand in hand with the guy was ... not good. Alex was practically feeling everything that could go wrong weighing down on him as he ran from ole getting on his nerves to him accidentally pulverizing the man into an electric mess.

All Alex had to do was god damn watch the man, observe and reflect. Now ... well, if the scientists in his head were any indication of proper scientific method and observation, he had apparently meddled with his evidence and threw all objectivity out the window. Helping Cole regenerate and deducing things side by side with the conduit were hardly going to help him understand what Cole was. Would Cole feel pain if Alex didn't help him heal? Would Cole even heal if Alex hadn't coached the man. Alex was no closer to solving the secrets of this anomaly than before.

But then, perhaps it wasn't the tangible benefits that convinced Alex.

Even just thinking to an hour ago when Alex saw Cole spring to life, for the first time in a long while, Alex felt actual shock. Elizabeth Greene had been creepy, but she hadn't shocked him, nor had the Supreme Hunter truly had him baffled beyond words. Every other instance Alex had was manageable. He didn't have to wrap his head around murdering soldiers or psycho scientists; either kill them and get them out of the way or wait to do the same later.

Cole was a different story.

Cole was not hostile, nor a disgruntled stooge. Cole did not wish death, suffering or any manner of terrible fates upon anyone but those that seemed to attack him. Thus, when Cole tried to talk to Alex and began to gush over his powers, playing around and laughing like a maniac, Alex was taken aback, silenced into submission. In some ways, Alex was jealous. Alex's abilities weren't the bane of his existence, but Cole could definitively say who he was and remember himself. Cole was his own person and Alex ... well, his previous persona was wiling to throw the world into chaos. He wasn't truly Alex Mercer or any of the man's memory. The fact of the matter was that Alex was defined by viral components; nothing more, nothing less.

Of course, there was always the possibility that Cole was hiding something. Perhaps Cole was just like the other humans he had eaten for the memories. These soldiers and scientists, lauded for bravery and intelligence, hid their true nature under the skin as they murdered and tortured for their own twisted enjoyment. In some sense, Alex couldn't believe that Cole was real. Far too many people's memories showed him that twisted shade of the human experience and Cole was perhaps the first time Alex found the other side. It was always possible that Cole was simply biding his time and waiting for the right moment to fight back against Alex. Worst of all, with no way to confirm otherwise, Alex had to classify Cole as a threat until the conduit was well and truly dead.

Still ... what was this feeling he had?

New York City was always so active. No matter where he had gone, the Big Apple was always bustling whether it was day or night, whether Blackwatch or the Infected had their grubby hands on the sector. Alas, despite this population density and activity, not one moment within said city had been satisfying to Alex. He was always running along building rooftops or scaling building and even when he did reach the ground level, it was usually to kill something. Alex had to face the facts; it was very lonely at the top of the food chain.

But with Cole, now there were two top predators nearby, two powerhouses that could level a city to the ground. This sensation, this feeling of Alex's, what was this? Dana never made him feel this way. He felt warmth around his supposed sister, the kind of comfortable warmth that many memories equated to sitting by a warm fire on a chilly night. Cole, on the other hand, gave him feeling of something else. He first thought it was romantic, until he cycled through scenes after scene of emotional highs and lows that he could never even understand. So, if not romance, what else was it? He tried to look through his head, looking through scene after scene as he sprinted at full speed. His answers were lacking. To think, with how many people he ate, shouldn't he have found the answer to this already?

Ironically, it was the running that helped him find something that would answer his question. It was a hot summer day, men and women all gathered along the street as they prepared to watch a race – no, a marathon. His memory grew hazy thought he did get flashes of motivation and drive. Ultimately, it ended and though he didn't know the outcome, he felt that same feeling - the feeling on the back of his neck tingling as he knew he was around his peers.

Then again, it was also the same feeling he got when he was being watched.

"Hey, don't slow down."

Alex flinched as Cole's voice cut through the memories. Alex turned to look at his left to see Cole closing the distance between them. It wasn't hard to see how the man had caught up; he was copying Alex's movements down to the letter. The cheating bastard was getting smug for Alex's hard work. Almost immediately, he wanted to chastise Cole for trying to goad him ... but then –

"I'm keeping it slow, so you can catch up," Alex quipped, something that even caught Cole off guard.

"Oh, you cocky shit," Cole laughed as his pace began to quicken, "Is that a challenge?"

Alex paused, a hint of a smirk forming on his lips, "Possibly."

They were slowly coming up on the camp, at least slow relative to their speed. Alex was starting to deviate, going through trickier and annoying routes just to piss Cole off. While Alex wouldn't admit it, seeing Cole's heated and frustrated expression was starting to please Alex. As they circled towards the camp's direction, Alex's eyes came across the sight of a small ravine. They were going to have to jump and as they came across the gap, Alex put all his might into his feet, slamming into the ground before forcing himself to fly up high in the air. So, yes, he managed to jump quite well ... though he wasn't hearing the same satisfactory rushing of wind behind him. He did manage to hear some swearing as the sound of collapsing rocks rattled behind him and Alex's smirk was fully formed.

"Did you miss me?"

Alex looked up to see Cole, grinning wildly from above. The height differential was not just an inch or two, mind you, but far enough for Alex to use his whip armament if he wanted to even consider smacking the man out of the sky. Where the hell did Cole find the power to jump that high? Icy trails seemed to come off the conduit's feet dragging Alex's eyes down. He only caught a glimpse of the sight, but he swore he saw ice before it seemed to vanish into thin air.

It was yet another trick up the conduit's sleeve.

Alex felt a twitch throb against his forehead, a tight sensation of flesh tensing up as he grumbled. Well then, if Cole wished to play in the big leagues, Alex would show Cole the big leagues.

"Don't get too comfortable."

Gravity had yet to take hold when Alex began to reconstitute his flesh. Tendrils swirled around his hands, sliding and shifting to gather towards the base of his arms and his legs. He rose his arms up before throwing himself down in a dive, sending him through the tree line as he broken the ground with his aerodynamic shape. Cole may have had his powers, but Alex still had the edge in physical superiority and control. No doubt Cole would have to take a few seconds before landing or else he'd risk hurting himself. Alex fully expected to see Cole's slow descent and pulled an early smug smirk –

Only to be blown back by an electric shockwave.

Alex felt his body being thrown through the trees, crashing through a bevy of branches before the trunk of a particularly hard tree exploded just to take the momentum of his impact. It only took a second, but a second was longer than what he thought he'd need. Jumping to his feet, Alex looked up to see Cole jogging to him. What was that expression? Fear? No, concern and genuine worrying ... what an alien expression.

"Holy shit, you okay?" Cole said pulling up to Alex. The conduit fully intended to help Alex up, but Alex batted the hand away.

"I'm fine," Alex grumbled. Alex took a moment to stand, breathing in an instinctive need to calm himself down. Damn this unusual competitiveness; it was only through Cole's surprise attack that Alex had snapped himself out of his stupor. Not only was he feeding into this strange behavior, but he was actively quipping with Cole and trying to out do the man. He may as well have been a child trying to impress other children on a playground. The thought of his idiocy disgusted himself, to think he was being so callous with someone he considered a threat. A part of him was starting to consider whether to remove the memories of camaraderie to get rid of this terrifying and mind-altering sensation. Doing that, however, required time, knowledge and energy – two of the three were not in good reserves.

Of course, then there was the final factor in all of this, the nail in the coffin that was starting to slink into his skull. Of all the things he had been made to think about, all the feelings he was experiences, none of them seemed to matter to the sheer fact ... that Alex was starting to enjoy his new experience.

This human and alien experience ...

* * *

It was a quiet couple minutes before they reached the campsite, but Cole found the minutes to stretch on past those simple minutes. The brooding man's demeanor, while not as talkative as most people he knew, had gone from friendly to dead quiet. Cole wondered if he had anything to do with the change but found himself unable to ask. Alex – or Mercer as he preferred, simply was not responding. Whatever, Cole had enough introspection and from what he had seen, Alex seemed ... alright.

The man was broody and overly serious, but at least he had the foresight to joke around. Granted, the man seemed to have a low bar and tolerance for such jokes, but better Alex than having to deal with a Bertrand ... hell, maybe even Nix in her worst moments. Serious wasn't bad. What worried Cole was everything else about Mercer, the powers and the history.

If there was one thing that Cole never considered humans, it would be living flesh bags of meat and organs. When Cole heard Mercer speak about humans so lightly while describing intricacies and details that only the most obsessive medical practitioners, uncertainty brewed within Cole. Mercer never explained HOW he had gotten these powers, only that he had died and woke up with them. Now the guy was talking about human meat puppets and all that psychological dissociative jazz. He'd give enough credit to Mercer for being inhuman; Cole knew that a lot of what made Cole what he was compared to "the Demon of Empire City" was his memory and Mercer said he had none. Nurture over nature was how Cole called it ... but once again, there was a gap. How did Mercer get the powers ... and what did Mercer do with them?

Alex may not have noticed Cole's gaze, but he had gotten a glimpse of the four poor bastards that tried to fuck with the biological weapon ... and if there was one thing Cole knew it was that trees didn't have bloody periods, no matter what fucked up world he was at.

Speaking of which-

"We close?" Cole said starting to pick up the pace. He didn't step past Mercer in the hopes of keeping things civil.

"Yea," the hooded man muttered. Cole caught a glimpse of the man's gaze darting left and right.

"You lost?"

Alex glared Cole's way as though the look alone would have answered Cole's question, "I will admit, I lost track of them, but I was able to find the area I saw the heat signatures."

Cole rolled his eyes, letting off Radar Pulse to check for anyone. He still couldn't find anyone, even with the added boost to his power.

"I'm not feeling anyone."

"Mmm," Mercer answered as he continued forward, "I'm not going by my senses if that's what you're wondering."

Cole looked back, "What do you mean?"

"My vision, or at least the eyes that can see heat signatures, has the unfortunate weakness of not reading ... dead things."

"Oh ..."

Cole felt the urge to shut up at that, his mind starting to consider the unlikely optimistic possibilities, though that was when he began to think back to the fight. The scent of blood in the air, stained on what the creatures called clothes, was not a good sign. The pit of his stomach seemed to only drop lower when his eyes caught sight of an open area with tents circling the middle of the clearing. Clothes and food items were strewn about the camp, tossed around or torn to pieces. If Cole new better, he'd say it was a bear ... or a god damn pack of them.

Did bears hunt in packs? No, wait, wolves did the pack hunting.

The point was that Cole knew what had gone through the campsite. He could see the damage and he had seen what things had done said damage ... and the smell made it all the worse. Cole pinched his nose to block off the scent as he looked to Mercer refraining. That guy was far too comfortable being near corpses.

While Mercer stepped forward in an easy gait, Cole was trying to play keep away. The tents were just as raggedy and makeshift as the clothes the monster wore and as he looked over the other corpses, even with the blood-stained colors smearing on their clothes, he could tell they wore the same clothes. In other words, Cole and Mercer really were the weird ones ... or they stepped into a large hobo community.

He was starting to believe the former.

Mercer strode through the corpses, though seemed to have enough of a head to avoid touching the corpses. Where Cole felt uneasy, Mercer walked with a purpose, examining each corpse with a single glance before continuing towards the center. It was only when they reached the center that Mercer finally stopped and settled on what looked to be a fresh corpse ... fresher corpse. Mercer knelt, touching the ground and rubbing the blood-stained dirt between his fingers.

"Stomach wounds," he said suddenly. Cole looked at the corpse, but Alex pointed to the others around, "Check their stomachs. I want to confirm something."

Cole nodded as Mercer took the initiative. The conduit slowly traced around the campsite, counting several bodies. The corpses all had gaunt, shallow faces save for the pair in the middle of the camp. The group had been nine in total, all dead by disembowelment. Cole looked to Mercer.

"Yea, they got ... the stomach ... out - fuck-"

Cole didn't finish his sentence. He had to look away. He assumed the faces of the dead would have been horrified or looked in shock, but instead, these corpses had tired faces, as though they had been waiting for the sweet release of death. Cole had never seen people die up close and personal so brutally ... fucking hell.

"Fucking monsters," he cursed before he looked to Mercer, "Care to clue me in?"

"They eat human guts," Mercer replied in a brutally honest fashion. The guy didn't even bat an eye when he continued, "Some form of infection makes them insatiable for human flesh and changes their biology."

Cole looked at Alex incredulously, "You got all that from a corpse?"

"No," Alex said, suddenly quieting down, "I have my methods."

Cole shook his head, not liking the man's silence. He was obviously hiding the "how", but at this point, Cole wasn't about to start fights. The conduit mulled over the corpses, walking over them as if looking for some way to clean things up without ...

Wait, did he have to worry about his own health? It made sense that he wouldn't need to worry, but still ... fuck he had to do something.

The closest corpse happened to be that of a woman splayed out across some furred bedding, arms spread wide with her stomach cavity open. Flies buzzed around but with a quick shockwave made quick work of the annoying creatures. Alex seemed to hear the commotion as Cole heard the man turn.

"What are you doing?" Mercer growled.

"Burying them," Cole said trying to ignore the monster in sheep's clothing before he heard Alex stalking Cole. Cole turned to face Alex, seeing the man eye to eye. Red orbs glared at Cole as the conduit answered in kind, not giving Alex an inch.

"You have a problem with what I'm doing?"

"No, actually," Cole folded his arms, "I'm just burying them."

Alex grit his teeth, "Then wait till I'm done."

"You got plenty of bodies just dyin' to see you. I don't even know why you're doing all this checking when we know what happened."

"I don't want you moving the bodies till I'm done. That's final," Alex said as he pointed at the corpse Cole was nearly getting ready to move.

Cole was starting to feel his own agitation pinch along his neck as it throbbed near his temples. This imitation of stressful nerves bundling up was certainly new, and he was starting to suspect it was Alex's doing. Cole had never met anyone with as much of an "A type" personality that could spit back. For Cole, it was his way or the highway, more so when it came to him and his power usage. Of course, this was different. This wasn't "how are we free the civilians," but rather a "this is what I believe is morally right."

Alex was well within his right to ask Cole to stop, but a part of Cole was starting to think Alex wasn't going to bother with burying. Something wasn't right with the guy and the way he picked at the bodies ... like a vulture hunting for scraps.

Of course, last he checked, vultures didn't have super human abilities, so the analogy wasn't completely one to one. Regardless, Cole put his foot down.

"Al- Mercer," Cole corrected, putting his hands together in front of himself, "These guys are dead. The guys that did this are dead. I'm all for researching bodies and crime scene investigation, but ... Christ, we don't need to magnify or do shit."

Alex's expression was steadfast as Cole spoke. He felt his chest shaking, not in fear but rather frustration. He begged in the back of his mind that Alex understood even an inkling of what he had to say. Alex kept still, still looking and glaring. Cole was wondering how long they'd have to stand like this in the middle of all the corpses when Alex turned away.

"Fine," he grunted before walking away. Cole sighed with relief, seeing the man strolling back to his body as he got to work. Cole did the same, turning to the dead woman. While he was willing to blast away flies, Cole wasn't ready to touch the decayed remains of rotting bowels. As such, the conduit did his best to put her hands on her chest as he lay the girl on her back. He mentally prepared a body staging area, placing the girl's body as a marker before starting on the next one.

This one was an older man and like the monsters, this man had calloused hands. There were more marks on this man's face and a bloody fist showed the man had fought back. Cole had to close the man's eyes, but for the moment he gazed the hazy pupils, he nodded his head. Yea, Cole had avenged these poor folks.

Cole did that for the next four bodies. Each prep work was as hard as the last, but he was lucky to not see children in the mix. By then, Alex had wandered from the first body, only being able to investigate a second body close by. He was meticulously examining every inch of the body and searching the surroundings. The look in Alex's eye caught Cole's attention, and for a moment, Cole swore he saw a bit of humanity. Invasive as Alex had been, he had left the body where it had been. For Alex's first corpse, the woman still lay against an oddly shaped rock in the same, bent angle as before.

Feeling a need to fix said positioning, he reached for the body. He expected to feel a cool touch and while he certainly did, a sharp zap ran through his fingers, flying up to his head. The shock had been so sudden, that Cole sprang to his feet ... or at least, he should have. Instead, Cole didn't seem to exist at all.

Cole was ... fading.

* * *

 _Regret and worry. Motherly worry for a child._

 _Happiness for the prodigal son. Rabona, Rabona_

 _A hopeful journey. Not safe, but Yoma preferred villages and cities_

 _They were alone, but then came many others. Companionship_

 _A slow awakening_

 _Horror, running, tripping._

 _She tripped. She couldn't run anymore. They surrounded her and pulled her by the hair._

 _Screaming wildly, terror filling her lungs as she watched_

 _Her eyes bled, her eyes bled tears of fear. She could not see – no – she did not want to see._

 _And then they came for her._

 _They opened her._

* * *

Cole jumped up to his feet so quickly that he fell back down. Shuffling by Cole's right pulled his attention, only to see Alex's surprised expression. Cole had nothing to say, only confusion and shock. The two men looked and stared for what seemed like an eternity before Cole looked back at the body, though more importantly, he looked at her face.

"She-I …" Cole was lost for words. He looked back at Alex, who had an equally confused expression, "What happened here?"

Alex said nothing, still holding to uncertainty before he responded slowly, "Ambush. The ... yoma came at night."

"How many nights ago?"

The hooded man's eyes widened, "Two – how did you-"

"I saw something ..." Cole answered immediately. He tried to calm himself, "I saw too much."

"... I see," Alex said as he walked forward, "What did you do?"

Cole shrugged, "I just touched the body and then 'BAAM.' It was so much. I only got glimpses, but they were so vivid."

"Intel, you got us something, right?" Alex asked as Cole turned, "You saw important details ... or at least, what they thought was important."

Cole slowly nodded, "Yea ... actually yea. I've had visions of people and their deaths, but I-I've never looked into people's heads."

"You'll get used to it," Alex said as he walked forward, offered a hand up, "They're not your memories, they're someone else's."

Cole chuckled. Of all the people to console Cole, it was this weirdo. Nevertheless, he accepted the advice and stood with Alex's help.

"Dr. Mercer, leading psychologist in the field of clinical therapy," Cole said with a smile.

"Quiet. I need to talk to you about something I thought I'd save for later, but clearly ..." Alex trailed off, "Clearly we need to get a handle on our situation."

Cole nodded, though he was once again, still standing awkwardly around corpses that were strewn about. Since he had already gotten on a tirade about caring for the dead, he decided against stopping Alex and let the man speak.

"I am Alex Mercer. If you don't know me, then clearly something is wrong."

"Congratulations ..." Cole started off before thinking to himself.

As arrogant as that sounded, the past several hours was starting to tell Cole a lot about Alex. If Alex was as powerful as he was ... yea, there was something off. Super human crazy abilities weren't a complete shock, but Alex had been on a whole different level compared to Cole. Not to mention the fact that he had talked about a nuke and an aircraft carrier, New York City, and a quarantine – it sounded similar to Cole's situation, but the details weren't adding up.

"Alright, I admit, we should have been on each other's hit lists by now."

"And we weren't because?" Alex asked as he waited, "What year was it when you had your powers?"

"2009 and I've only been a full, electric conduit for about half a year at max."

Alex paused, "... I've only had my powers for a month ... and 2009 as well."

"So, what you're saying is?" Cole said starting to get antsy with the mystery. Alex was looking like he was ready to info dump some weird revelation as he puffed a breath.

"We're not from the same ... reality."

Cole nodded, "Okay, I figured that out."

"And we are currently not on either of our worlds," Alex finally said and with that Cole continued to give the same tired nod.

"I think that was pretty clear here. Ye' old tents and carriages don't really scream modern society."

"Oh, it gets better," Alex continued, "We're not on earth to start. We're somewhere in a country called Pieta. Nowhere in the history of mankind has there been a country or landmass called Pieta. We are effectively somewhere completely new and foreign."

"... Okay," Cole's eyes narrowed, "And you know this because ..."

Alex sighed. The man was conflicted, eyes darting about as though he were afraid of people listening in. Cole was wondering how easy it was for other people to read Alex when the man dropped a bombshell of a revelation.

"I eat people and I can take in their memories."

Cole blinked at the words. It fit surprisingly well with Alex, but the matter of fact attitude was just so ... jarring. That was the first confession of cannibalism he had ever heard of, 'yes, I can eat people and their memories too.'

"I'm just ... okay wow, you are – phew," Cole said as he pressed his hand against his temples, "SO I WAS RIGHT. You are a weird psycho."

Alex growled, "Shut up. It's more complicated than that."

"Oh, really now. Is that how ALL your abilities work then? Yuh gotta eat people then, is that right?"

Alex groaned, narrowing his gaze as Cole pushed back.

"Oh, is that it? Big cannibal man has his feelings hurt? Calling all cars for the feelings police right here."

"Listen!" Alex finally shouted, grabbing Cole's attention, "I ... what I am, what my abilities are, and how I'm made ... I ... it is complicated."

"Clearly," Cole quipped, though he let Alex finish.

"I am telling you this because you are the best option for me to get off this world. You and I are not meant to be here so naturally, we're going to attract attention. Whether it's weird things here, or whatever brought us down to this shit hole of a planet, I don't give a damn. We – you and me – we can make it."

"And what makes you think I'd trust you after you told me you eat people? Hell, why should I trust you?"

"... I don't know," Alex spat, "I just ... mmm."

Cole considered the words, taking in Alex's consideration as he pondered. The cannibal was right with working together, but did Cole really want to give Alex the chance to go back home and wreak havoc? He might have said no right then and there had Cole not kept his eye on Alex. Everything about the man, from the way he talked and spoke, to the details he revealed about himself felt off. Alex was closed off, whether by nature or nurture. To simply say these things, like telling Cole he could eat people, must have meant a lot. Of course, with a man like Alex, the whole affair seemed strange, like the man was trying to make loopholes in his mind for some unknown plot.

"You eat ... bad people?" Cole asked, trying to take a 'Dexter' approach of humanization.

"I don't eat people like that," Alex said in exasperation, "It's more like absorbing them."

"That's sounds sexual," Cole said with a grin, but the conduit shook his head, "Okay, absorb people - still isn't that much better."

Alex shook his head, "If that's how you feel, I could care less. What's important is that I do this. I have powers that people can't dream of."

"And what's this have to do with me? Why tell me all this, actually? You've only given me more reasons to fry you, yuh know?"

"Trust is a two-way street," Alex said, "I trust you enough to know about what I do. I trust you enough to empathize with someone with far too much power to deal with ... I also trust you understand how it feels when people start demonizing you the moment they know about your abilities."

Ouch, that hit close to home, Still, electric abilities and being able to eat people were whole different stories ... but he was starting to get a picture of what he was saying.

"Right, fair point."

"Okay then. I can't threaten you or hope to eat you. You have powers that I've never faced and honestly, you are a threat."

Alright, this was starting to make more sense, "So you want to ... be able to trust me rather than hope to have to fight me."

Alex looked unsure, "I ... I guess."

"Okay ... I guess I kind of get where you're coming from."

"Good, then that means are on friendly ter-"

"Hold the phone," Cole said, raising his hand, "That doesn't mean I trust you. We work together, and that means **_work together_**. We don't plan to betray each other, or some shit, and we consider what the other is thinking. No solo operation."

Alex nodded which left Cole relaxed. To be honest, Cole had never worked with an equal before, barring times with Kuo and Nix and even then, he did most of the work in the situation. Most of his allies tended to do the background work so when Cole said all this, he really had to keep a poker face. Alex, luckily, looked convinced.

"I can do that."

"Good, now," Cole pointed to the lady he had connected with, "What is her deal? Who is she?"

Alex looked down, glaring for a moment before looking back up, "Liza Veica. Some married woman that came with her husband."

"I know that, but why was she on the trip?" Cole asked as he looked down, inspecting the woman's body. The woman was still bent over backward with her stomach open. Upon closer inspection, he saw her legs and grit his teeth as he looked at the damaged Achilles heel. Still, Cole wasn't bothered with her stomach, chest, or legs. Instead, he felt gravitated to her hands and before long he caught of glimpse of a small chain.

"No idea. The yoma's memories don't say much," Alex answered, which also answered how Alex knew those details and where he got it from. Cole was partially relieved to hear the man had, in fact, **not** consumed the dead bodies for memories. Cole continued to work on the woman's hands, the fingers locked in place by rigor mortis.

"Well, what I saw was that Liza here was heading somewhere called Rabona. Lady was really proud or something to hear her kid was alright and living there," Cole said as he tried to simultaneously remember what he had seen while opening up her hand. Hard work was starting to pay off as he saw a glint in the moonlight, "She was gonna live with her kid, you know? Watch him grow up ... but we know what happened."

"And what's that got to do with anything?"

"Glad you asked," Cole said as he finally pried open the hand. It was a necklace, shaped in some kind of symbol of an eye with beads running down the sides like tears, "If you want me to trust you, you're on probation. I'm gonna watch you and we're going on a trip."

He dangled the necklace in front of Alex triumphantly, who still didn't have a clue what Cole was talking about.

"I thought you said no solo operation-"

"Well, yea, I'm not shutting you down ... but you want me to work with you? You want to like use me to my fullest potential or something, well I gotta trust you first, right?"

Alex nodded, "Fair enough. I still don't understand."

"We're goin' to Rabona to return this," Cole said re-emphasizing the necklace, "To give it to her kid."

"You're ... joking," Alex muttered, "You want to go to Rabona for an errand?"

"Yea, and?" Cole said with a shrug, "Why not? I don't know if the kid knew she was coming and expecting, but he's gotta learn it at some point. I'd do the same with the others, but ... I think I can't connect with them."

Alex sighed, "She was the last one to die. The others were just drifters and she and the husband came in only a week ago."

"Well, after we bury them, we're heading to Rabona," Cole said as he eyed Alex's distaste, "It's a long way from here, and guess what? I'll have all the time in the world to make sure you're not a crazy bastard. Sounds reasonable, right?"

Needless to say, Alex was not amused. The hooded man was practically glaring as Cole flipped the script on the whole affair. Well, Cole wanted to test Alex and what better way to test than to do this? He watched a range of emotions come across Alex's face, from annoyance to frustration to regret before finally, Alex's expression seemed to droop.

"I'll follow, but is this really what we're doing? We could be wasting valuable time or be in danger and you want to do this?"

Cole shrugged, "Eh, just making it up as I go along."

"... Fuck."

* * *

 **I am here to reiterate, no, this is not a yaoi fic. Human interaction does not equate romance.**

 **Thank you**

 **Please read and review. Thank you so much.**

 **Also, going to take an extra week to write the next chapter**

 **Next chapter: 8/19/2018**


	5. Arc 1 Chapter 4: The Claymore part 1

"This is the sixth one."

"Darn it! The last one was just three days ago."

"What'll we do? At this rate ..."

"There's no doubt about it. A Yoma is in the village."

"God, at least it's stopped targetting children."

"We gotta tell the chief."

Such was the mourning song for the sad corpse laid out to bear. The morning had crawled itself over the rugged mountains, past the green hills and onto a sea of yellow grass surrounding the town. Morning rituals had begun, stirring the townspeople to life. The young stayed indoors for the sunrise and this was one of many boons for the adults. While children would whisper of what scraps of details they could hear, they would not see the body that brought another day to halt.

It was a half-eaten corpse, half eaten in the sense that the body remained. Life had left the corpse, but not even flies dared to witness the face of horror upon the man's visage. The men gathered around, trying to block the view from children and the faint of heart. They draped a cloth over the corpse and quietly hushed as they moved the dead mound of flesh. Red blood dripped down from the cloth and by the time the rest of the village came to, they would see the blotches of dried crimson.

One other corpse had been left out like this. The others, young children with only single digits to their age, had simply vanished. One would have thought the Yoma to leave out a similar calling card, but children were smaller. Perhaps childrens' guts weren't enough. Perhaps Yoma used every part of a child, bones and all.

It was what forced women and children stayed inside whilst the men headed towards the center of town to the chief.

Surely he'd know what to do, and unbeknownst to them, the man had already enacted a plan. It was during this time, however, as the men gathered in protest to speak with the chief about 6th yoma related death, that two shapes began to appear on at the edge of town. Both were cloaked in brown, one of the two carrying a metal shape on his back. Though their journey had been long, the pair kept a brisk pace as dust billowed behind them, wandering ever closer. A young boy caught sight of them, changing his fate forever. He thought to listen in on the adults discussing the Yoma, but instead, he was drawn to the meandering pair.

What else was a boy to do but follow?

They slowly made their way through the streets, taking side alleys and paths less traveled than those of the townsfolk. Raki wondered how they knew to avoid people, occasionally taking sudden turns to avoid those around corners or just coming out of their homes. By the time Raki was ready to confront them, the pair had gone into an alleyway. Raki waited, not wanting to surprise the pair, but waited a little too long. Something was up and Raki came sneaking over, leaning his head in. He expected to see some dark secret or maybe some kind of surprising shock waiting to hit him. A part of him even suspected them to be Yoma.

Alas, fate gave him nothing. The strangers were gone and Raki ... well, Raki wasn't important anymore. He would live a normal life, a boring life.

Nothing close to what bizarre adventures the two strangers would go through.

* * *

 **Lightning, Blood, and Steel**

Arc 1 Chapter 4: The Claymore part 1

* * *

On the whole, Alex wasn't sure what to think of himself at this point in time.

On the one hand, he was satisfied. For once, Alex felt like he had some modicum of control with an unknown factor. The fact of the matter was that Alex was starting to lose trust in people in general, and it all started with him, his failings. He trusted Karen and he trusted Cross, look where that led him. Now, he was turning the tables, whether Cole was hiding something or whether he was just a pawn, Alex was ready for the twist to come.

What stopped him from feeling completely comfortable was the doubt.

It was why Alex leashed himself or at least, feigned a leash. Alex thought he could take the man easily ... or at least, he thought he could at first. Cole's powers were strong, but the conduit wasn't invincible as he had seen with the man being unable to close his own wounds. It would have been no different than hunting a specific infected or stalking a military officer during patrols; there was always a blind spot or a weakness to exploit. Minutes turned to hours and before Alex knew it, it had been a few days from when they had first agreed to walk. The man had no need to eat or sleep, something Dana had ironically pestered Alex about.

In fact, Cole was the first to comment on the matter and he claimed he didn't know what was going on. The man seemed to express happiness, wonder, sorrow before ultimately going back to his neutral state of affairs. Why Cole acted that way about a simple fact of life, he didn't understand. Cole just seemed to be annoyed and worried about his ability to eat real food, which Alex couldn't care about. All Alex focused on was the mechanics of it all.

Didn't the man need to at least recharge or rest? The conduit claimed he had never felt like this before and said he had been a full-fledged flesh and blood being before his transformation. Right, and maybe Alex was supposed to expect Cole got his abilities from the power of love as well.

The thought made him shake his head when they were coming up on the town, some unnamed village that just happened be in their way. Up until that point, the only signs of life were the flora, the fauna, and Cole which didn't surprise Alex in the slightest. He wished Cole would go faster and he thought of pestering the man into running to test the man's limits, but he didn't want to seem like he was pushing.

Normally, he'd know what the hell to say and how the hell to say it; army guys all talked alike with their code words and phrases, no matter how many times they tried to change things. Now that he thought about it, Alex had never used his powers to truly convince someone he was someone else. He just fit himself inside the machine of war and even then, sometimes people got suspicious. It was only through rapid switching between disguises and the constant mountain of dead soldiers that people never raised the red flags. If the average person was smarter than the average, unquestioning jarhead, perhaps his disguise wasn't as good as he thought. He'd need to act human first if he wanted to convince them, a far cry from hiding amongst killers and psychos in Blackwatch and the Marines.

So then, Alex needed to read a man that claimed to be the farthest thing from a military man that could ever exist; how the hell was he going to do that? To top it all off, with Cole's abilities matching Alex's own, the man's type A personality was starting to rub Alex the wrong way. What started as fun challenge that Alex used to expand his limited pool of experiences turned into a possible threat. The confusing feelings were starting to weigh on Alex as he found himself unable to process them. Why not just kill Cole and be done with all this? It would be so easy to do, just attack now, rip him apart and get rid of the maggot.

No, wait, no. Not a maggot.

Great, now Alex was feeling conflicted again. Cole wasn't a maggot; he wasn't ... a complete lunatic. Cole was ... once again, a new experience.

Kill the man.

See what he has to offer.

He's a threat.

"Fuck me," Alex grumbled, to which Cole looked back.

"Something wrong?" Cole said as he turned around. Alex recognized the look on the conduit's face, genuine concern. It was rare, but he had seen it enough on Dana's face to see it in Cole. It was always the eyes that said the most, a frantic panic before focusing back on the face was a clear sign.

"Nothing, just thinking," Alex said. He pulled out several gold sticks that indicated money. From the memories Alex gathered, there was enough to last the pair a week if they needed food. Without food, it could pay for a month's lodging. How many was enough? Two? Three? He tried to look back in his head and found ... nothing. Strange, he should have at least been able to see what he had eaten. Instead, it was like he had forgotten - him, the god damn viral bioweapon designed to consume other entities and recall things with near perfect clarity.

Something was amiss again. He didn't know if it was Cole or if it was just him, but Alex was starting to get on edge. So much for enjoying Cole's company.

Cole naively turned his back to Alex. To think, the man of the hour was only inches away as thoughts of killing the conduit were still ready to pounce. He must have really bought his whole "trust is a two way street" speech ... though then again, perhaps Alex had bought it himself since he was here. What would Cole have said if he knew Alex was still planning the best way to deal with Cole?

 _Not today at least._

If an when the time came, Alex would know what needed to be done. A sliver of hope stayed with him; maybe Cole would be one more on his very short list of untouchables following Dana and Dr. Ragland. He'd prefer it, in fact, but if Alex had learned anything in his very short life, it was that most people were going to disappoint.

Whether or not Cole was sent to observe, control him, or act as a stupid pawn, Alex would know soon enough. Any wrong misstep, revealed motive, or stupid mistake, and Alex would show the bald-headed overzealous electrician that this "Zeus" could indeed tame lightning as well.

"Alright, I don't think anyone noticed us," Cole said as Alex nodded. Cole's "Radar Pulse," as Cole called it, was certainly handy. He just wished that Cole hadn't forced the name upon him.

"Good. The inn should be around here somewhere."

Cole nodded pressing his back against the stone make of the walls, "Perfect, I'll get some food again."

The comment brought quirk to Alex's eye, but he didn't pounce immediately. He waited a moment before he said, "I thought you said you didn't need to eat."

"I don't need to, but I'd like to think I can," Cole said, "It'd be good to taste something, you know? I might not be made of flesh and blood, but I still got a tongue and everything."

"Hmph," Alex rolled his eyes, "You don't need to do it, so why do it at all?"

"Hey man, you don't need to eat people to stay alive, so why do you do it at all?"

Except that Alex DID need to eat people to stay alive ... or perhaps, he needed the flesh. No amount of paid steaks or frozen meats would empower him as much as a whole, functioning body would. Alas, Alex kept quiet as he looked for the sign, still doing his best to keep things going. When he did see it, the foreign words seemed to translate into a proper language. There was no flare or name brand plastered on, the word Inn was enough of an identifier. As soon as Alex pointed, Cole jogged ahead and opened the door. Alex entered second to see Cole taking off the brown cloak without so much as a second thought. Alex scowled.

"Hey! Innkeep!" Cole slung his cloak over his shoulder. No one was in, or at least, no one was manning the table. Alex slipped over to the conduit's right and grabbed his arm.

"What are you doing?! Keep the cloak on!"

Cole looked at Alex like he was crazy, "Why would anyone wear a full cloak indoors? It's weird."

"You didn't need to take it off, just the hood."

"I'm not getting advice on hoods from you," Cole quipped, grinning a bit before bumping Alex's shoulder, "Relax, just let me do the talking."

Before Alex could respond, both he and Cole heard footsteps coming down from the stairs. The quiet taps came from a frail, elderly lady scurrying down with shaking legs. The old woman was rubbing her eyes when she walked around the counter, though Alex noticed her catching a glimpse of both of them beforehand. She was immediately defensive as she scowled from Cole to Alex and then back to Cole.

"You two ... I've never seen you before."

"Yeah, just got to town like a couple minutes ago," Cole said, keeping a calm face. It was rather impressive to Alex, seeing the goofball turn from joking to serious and collected. Still, was this surface level like Alex's or something more?

"And what about him?"

"We're together. We hunt for a living," Cole answered. Again, not too quick, but not too slow either – Alex needed to take notes.

"What do you hunt?"

"People."

"Huh," the lady looked him up and down and then moved her gaze over to Alex, "I see. I was wondering why the two of you looked so ... big."

Alex rolled his eyes, but Cole nodded along, "We were hoping to be quiet. We're looking for someone in Rabona. Any chance for us to get a room and some food?"

"Food is extra."

"How much?"

The lady frowned. Clearly, she wasn't looking to cook, but why? In fact, why was she being so closed off? Alex eyed the woman as she struggled between two indeterminable choices before she finally threw her hands up.

"Well, I guess today's a good a day as any. Twenty bera for the room and to restock.

Twenty? Alex didn't have use for the money in a typical sense, but that was still a good chunk of resources. While Alex was still considering if the offer was any good, Cole was already taking out the money.

"Deal. If you can, could you just set up a room real quick? We've been walking for a while and it'd be nice to rest on a bed."

The lady shrugged as she pulled a key off a hook under the counter. She headed up first, followed by Cole while Alex came last. He wanted to glare daggers into the man, maybe do a bit of stabbing as well just for good measure. Luckily for the Conduit, Alex's rationality was getting the better of him. Blending in, yeah, how easy would that be if he just was working by himself. Then again, he wouldn't be wasting time here with the town in the first place and be doing some real investigation. Alex may not have known what he'd be doing or how to investigate, but it was sure as hell better than staying here ...

Unless, of course, Cole had a plan.

A test? Perhaps Cole wanted to test Alex's ability to restrain himself? The man seemed surprisingly socially intelligent for an idiot. Maybe instead of a test, he was testing Alex's ability in other ways?

A sinking feeling began to set in as he thought through every possibility, assuming Cole's deeper plans. He thought about it so much that he slowly began to push the thoughts of why he should even care if Cole cared, for those thoughts would only slow Alex down. Alex needed to decipher this strange man, this conduit of sorts. If Alex was right, and Cole was smarter and more cunning than how things first seemed ... then perhaps Alex would find the answers to the mystery soon enough.

 _Don't test my patience, Macgrath._

He seeing Cole look back brought Alex back into focus.

"Hey, we don't have all day."

Alex scoffed and followed up, only to pause as he heard something scuttle around the steps, near the bar. Without another word, he turned his attention and tried to feel heat. The sound and the presence had disappeared. Strange. He didn't think there had been a second body in the room other than the innkeeper.

"Alex, get your ass up here."

Without another word, he turned towards the steps and shook his head. There it was again ... the feeling of being watched.

* * *

No such plan circulated through Cole's mind as he set upon the delicious stew. For a society that didn't have an easy time getting salt or pepper, they sure made up for it in other ways. The stew was a combination of wild rice mixed with potatoes and some stewed meats. The meats were tender, most likely kept that way in some manner that prevented spoilage. Whatever the case, Cole finally answered the question of whether or not he could eat: yes, he could definitely eat ... and he still loved every second of it.

"God damn," Cole said with a smile, "Nothing beats some home cooking."

He turned to Alex, who somehow became more broody and quieter than before. He hadn't even touched a drop of stew, the ungrateful bastard. Cole just shook his head; he knew something was up, but Alex had been compliant up until that point, even doing random shit like this. The truth of the matter was that if the two of them had run, they could have made it to Rabona by now, but Cole had insisted on slowing down. The countryside was beautiful, and lord knew it had been a while since Cole had a chance to relax.

He snuffed another piece of meat in his mouth, chewing it as he looked over Alex's way. The broody man was glaring but slowly pulled his gaze off to the side. At least Alex was acting civil. From the description of Alex's abilities, the man could have easily just gone to town and eaten everyone here. Hell, he was probably thinking about it ... or maybe not; Cole couldn't tell what was going on. All he could see was that same, distant stare that he always had. It was a regretful stare, the stare he saw on Zeke when they first came to New Marais. The thought of Zeke brought Cole back a little as he finished the meal.

"Not a fan?"

Alex turned to look at Cole, "Hmm?"

"The stew," Cole nudged the wooden bowl a little, "It's pretty good."

Alex kept quiet, as though expecting something from Cole. Nevertheless, Cole kept quiet and Alex answered soon enough, "I've never tried ..."

"You never tried stew? How's that even possible? Even I could make stew."

"I've never eaten **_food_**."

Ahh, the weird cannibal, absorbing mess – Cole remembered.

"Like, ever? Come on, you've only eaten people? What kinda shit is that?"

"Absorbed, consumed ... stop saying it like I make people into steaks," Alex said, snapping back. Cole raised his hands as he pulled back.

"Alright, just sayin' it sounds weird," Cole said.

The thought of Alex never having eaten food struck him as awkward. The man never even tried to eat, not even as a technique to blend in? He looked down at the murky stew, the heat still radiating off the bowl as he looked back over to Alex's direction.

"I mean, you should try it."

Alex looked over, raising his eyebrow, "The stew?"

"No, the spoon – of course, I'm talking about the stew. Come on, new experience."

Alex hesitated, slowly starting to back up in the seat, "What are you trying to do?"

"The hell do you think I'm trying to do?" Cole asked. He was started to feel a little done with this broody personality, "It's a fucking bowl of stew. What, you think I pump it full of AIDS or something? Are you even affected by pills and shit? Just eat."

"I don't need to eat it and I don't want to."

"Come on," Cole said, slowly standing up. He shimmied the chair over Alex's way, but gave an arm and a half between the two of them, "What's wrong with eating it?"

"Nothing and there's nothing wrong with me refusing to eat."

"Yea, well, lemme just take this into consideration," Cole said as he secured himself to the chair, "You don't have to eat it, right, but – you know – we already paid for it, it's there and waiting. If you do eat it and don't like it, well fuck, then you don't have to eat in the future, problem solved. Now you know, for sure, that you don't like eating food. On the flip side, if you enjoy stew, well buddy, we got a whole world of food – Burgers, Fries, Soda, Beer, Mexican food, Asian food, Seafood, Cajun stuff – all that shit, could be waiting."

Alex gave an incredulous look, "I doubt we can order foie gras in a place like this."

"Well, we don't have to. We'll do that when we get back," Cole said with a nod, "You got nothing to lose and something to gain."

Another few moments passed as Alex looked between Cole and the wall ... or at least, that was what Cole assumed. When Cole turned to where Alex was looking, the conduit saw the warm bowl hanging out all by its lonesome. He grabbed the stew and handed it off to Alex, quickly trying to get the man to eat before he could come up with another excuse.

"Don't make me feed it to you like a baby," he said, handing off the spoon's wooden grip. Alex was sighing, whether in defeat or cold acceptance of new possibilities.

Of course, when Alex put the spoon aside, Cole should have known right then and there that something was up. Cole blinked as he watched Alex stick a finger into the goop. Sure enough, the broth was starting to sink.

"What the fuck," Cole jerked the bowl out of Alex's hands, "What are you doing?"  
Alex looked puzzled, "You told me to eat it. I'm turning it into biomass."

"WHAT? The fuck are you calling eating? This isn't eating. It's some fucking travesty of humanity."

"I'm not human. I don't have organs, a throat, or taste buds in the first place."

"Buddy, you can make a giant sword outta your hand. A stomach and some taste buds aren't gonna kill yuh."

Alex rolled his eyes, "I'm done. This is already stupid as is."

"Go figure," Cole said, shaking his head, "The biological adaptation evolving guy can't take two seconds to eat like a regular person."

"Don't mock me," Alex said, growling towards Cole as Cole did the same. Cole, however, was not growling or snarling at Alex. He was in the middle of a smile and a frown, wanting to both laugh at the ridiculousness of it all and feel sentimental in wanting to connect to this inhuman stranger.

If Alex was going to act like a stubborn dog, then Cole was going to be the idiot that got him to behave. It was a direction, a clear guideline that he could follow. While he may have wished he was with Zeke, working with Kuo or reprimanding Nix, this was where Cole was. He felt secure around the idea for it was at least some sort of foundation for him. Lord knew what he'd do if he were completely alone. Cole was starting to suspect that, as weird as Alex may have been, Cole was starting to feel at home again. First Trish was grounding him when he got his powers, then Kuo with all that government professionalism and level-headedness with The Beast ... and now a biological weapon of mass destruction was keeping him from feeling like the world was turning upside down.

Alex was starting to give Cole a look as the conduit slowly sat down and began to laugh. To be honest, Cole didn't know why laughter, of all things, came to him at that very moment. All he knew was that it felt good and the confused look on Alex's face was only funnier.

"Mercer," Cole finally said, "I gotta be honest; this is weird."

Alex rose an eyebrow, still frozen no doubt from Cole's own actions. For a moment, the man looked unsure whether to stand back up or stay sitting down, but Alex looked like he brushed the thoughts away with a shake of the head.

"... yeah, it's surreal."

Cole looked at his own hand, the same hand that had turned the monster, Yoma, whatever thing into a red mist, "This whole power stuff - I thought I saw it all, you know? I've seen a giant naked fire guy, a version of me from the future ... and now I'm stuck in the middle of bum fuck no-where. What the hell happened?"

The hooded man's eyes seemed to shift, turning from that defensive state to curiosity. Alex was thinking, and Cole felt like he could see the world slipping in and out of the man's eyes in a heartbeat.

"Shit happened," Alex finally said, folding his arms. He slowly looked down, "Us happened."

Cole slowly began leaning against the wall, "You ever wonder what it'd be like if someone else got your powers?"

Alex looked back up, "No, why do you ask?"

"I mean," Cole shrugged, "When I think back to what I've done, a lotta stuff took self-sacrifice. Another path here, another road that way and I could see myself being the bad guy if I wasn't careful."

"Mmm," Alex didn't seem to care about the last bit.

"What about you?" Cole asked, "What if someone else was in your shoes?"

"There's not much to think?" Alex responded quickly.

"Why is that?"

"Because the truth is that I am my powers," Alex calmly said, "Nothing more, nothing less."

A pause settled in the room, as Cole kept watching Alex. Their eyes were pushing back at the other with hard stares. It was all a stalling tactic for Cole.

"Hmm, I see," Cole said, "Well, whoever your 'Dana' was, I hope she didn't think that."

Alex didn't say a word. Cole wondered if the man was either holding his words back or simply had nothing to say. The guy wasn't someone to mess with, save for some silly jabs, and Cole was starting to suspect that Alex was simply along for the ride. What was keeping Alex around? Surely it wasn't Cole ... as hilariously cocky as that may have been. For if it was only Cole that could weather the storm and tame the beast, Cole wondered how lucky it must have been to have landed near Alex. Something there felt off, but Cole kept the thought in the back of his mind. If Alex was following Cole when Cole clearly annoyed the hooded man, well, Alex would have the conduit's respect. Patience was a virtue, and not many people with power had patience.

Their silence was suddenly interrupted, however, as people began to shout about something. Cole didn't quite catch the voices, but when Alex stood up, he was directly next to an open window. He stuck his head out and Cole did the same as they both shared the window.

It was a large crowd by the entrance way that hugged the opening side to side. Cole couldn't tell what the hell the densely packed crowd was murmuring to each other, but Alex was starting to pull Cole back. Cole kept his eyes trained on the entrance and just before Alex pulled Cole out of the way, he caught sight of someone walking through the now parted crowd.

The wispy woman strode through, looking neither too short nor too tall for her height. She had a striking visage of white hues while silver armor covered arms, legs, and shoulders. What was most prominent was on her back, a large claymore that seemed almost as tall as her. Now, this was the fantasy shit Cole was expecting to see in a back-water place like this. Just before he could make a snide comment, woman's head snapped his way.

Cole only caught a glimpse of the monstrous eyes before he slipped out of sight.

"What the fuck was that?"

* * *

 **What, indeed, the fuck was that?**

 **Please read and review!**

 **I got "The Pen or The Sword" to thank for beta reading and for bouncing off ideas.**

 **In any case, next chapter will be up on 9/2/2018 since school is starting once more :P. If I finish early, I'll post so follow me up.**


	6. Arc 1 Chapter 5: The Claymore part 2

**Sorry for taking an extra week. School is taking some time out of my schedule.**

* * *

The walk to the village had been a long journey, marred by tedium. While she may have been the closest claymore and the only Claymore taking care of this part of Rabona, to travel from one end of her region to another took time, time she would rather spend on actual Yoma hunting. That being said, at least she was getting consistent calls; she just wished they weren't farther apart than they needed to be.

The unnamed village came into view by the third evening, but Claire arrived on the fourth day, the sun glaring down atop it's midday throne. A single Yoma hiding out in an insignificant village was a typical assignment. It made sense they would resort to attacking establishments on the fringe of civilization, no doubt the crafty monsters finding ways to skirt the outskirts of The Organization's view. She had hunts like these numbering in the double digits. Had she been a different sort of girl, she may have asked how many there may have been, or even wondered where these flesh-eating humanoids came from.

Alas, Claire wasn't alive to ask questions. She was alive to hunt Yoma.

As she began to approach, she caught sight of the villagers. She was too far off for them to comprehend, but who else would wear the all-white uniform that draped her body and the minimal armor that shined upon approach. Claire didn't need to hide herself for as she approached, and as the village's outline growing ever clearer, her body readied itself for what was to come.

First came the looks and they were easy enough to ignore. The spectrum of eyes ranged in color and reaction, either looking in awe, fear, or something in between. Claire didn't know which she disliked more, but the whispers that followed always distracted her.

"Look, her eyes are silver."

"Yea, why do you think they're called silver eyed witches?"

"I really just hope that she doesn't go after us."

"Well, she does have some Yoma in her."

These were one of dozens of whispers that came in and out of the crowd. Her fear had an ebb and flow to it, culminating in an absolute high when she happened to walk in the direction of the pair that had said those words. Their reactions were typical and while it was nice for the two to eat their words, there were still a dozen that were grumbling around her. They were the cowardly, the ignorant, the foolish ... and it was best to leave things at that.

She moved forward, parting the crowd. Behind her, she could hear the two trying to keep out of sight and mind. It was that focus of the two loudmouths that brought her attention to her right and strangely enough, she felt the instinctive need to stop. The twitch had hit the back of her brain, nearly pinching nerves for just a split second that she nearly missed it.

Her eyes snapped to the right, but the rest of her body remained rigid. Only her head turned to help both eyes hunt for her target as she trusted her honed instincts. A blur came first, something moving. She focused harder, only milliseconds passing before her mind registered ...

Nothing.

There was nothing at all.

She blinked once or twice, calming herself down when she realized her heart rate had spiked. It was then that she realized she had even raised her arm to her namesake. The instinctive motion towards her sword had left the crowd scurrying away, pushed up against walls or weeping on the ground. Muscles were tensed, her breathing was rushed, and she could even feel her eyes pulsing hot with power. If they had been calling her a silver-eyed witch, then they would certainly call her a monster now as her eyes leered at the folks with her slit irises.

What was this reaction from her?

She quickly steadied herself and stood upright, quieting her mind. There was nothing there, there hadn't been anything in the slightest. She took a passing glance, confirming yet again before continuing on her way. Of course, even as she moved, she was still stuck in the moment, the rush, the intensity and everything that had come at her all at once.

Something was here, something bizarre ... and she was going to find it.

* * *

 **Lightning, Blood, and Steel**

Arc 1 Chapter 5: The Claymore part 2

* * *

"What the fuck was that?"

Alex would have asked the same thing if he hadn't snapped into focus so hard. The world had gone white hot, time slowing down to fragments of a second as energy stored for unforeseen flight and fight responses exploded into him. His body felt like it was boiling from the inside as it forced chemical reactions to spontaneously work his very essence faster than anything he had felt before. How he stopped, or more importantly when he stopped, Alex did not know for certain, but when he did, he could feel the very heat from his flesh dissipate. Fresh condensation formed along his back and Alex couldn't help but remember the fear of his victims, the instinctual knowledge that death was on their heels.

At first, he thought the sensation to be a fluke, a strange and unexplainable phenomenon. Lord knew that there was plenty enough of those coming around as it was, but with a bit of thought and determination, Alex remembered. He had to pull the memory out of the vast banks of knowledge he had, but in that instant, his mind finally cleared up, he remembered where he had felt this rapid onset of power, of focused chaos. How could he forget edging the line between life and death? How could he forget taking beatings, bullets, and explosions by the skin of his near-perfect reproduction of teeth-like structures?

Then again, it had been quite a while since he had felt this close to death. Even the Supreme Hunter had little chance against Alex, at least in terms of causing mortal death. Alex was no longer at Penn Station. He no longer feared the Hunters or their larger cousins ... but then how was he feeling as threatened as before?

Was it because of ... that _**thing**_ that walked outside?

Alex put his hand up against the frame of the window, his hand gripping the edge as he pulled himself up while keeping his back up to the wall. Cole turned and looked at Alex incredulously. The conduit wordlessly tried to motion something, but Alex glared. He wordlessly tried to tell Cole off, but since one needed words to tell someone off, a wordless tell-off happened to equate to a long, awkward stare shared between the two men while expressions fired back at the other like inane school children. Needless to say, Alex found it all pointless and shrugged it off, Cole following suit as Alex slowly peeked around the window to find-

Nothing.

"It's gone," Alex said, which brought Cole bouncing back to his feet.

"Well, what the hell was 'it'?" Cole asked as he pushed Alex aside, much to Alex's annoyance. The man stuck his head out, getting a thorough look before pulling back in, "Jesus, I've never felt that before."

Alex huffed, "Then you've been lucky."

Cole paused for a moment, contemplating in silence before he started to pull himself towards the window. Alex could see weathered fingers meet with unfamiliar surfaces as Cole grew accustomed to the surfaces. It didn't take long for the man to step outside and balance himself against the dry make.

"Well, let's go see what the hell that was then."

Alex flinched. He didn't stop Cole, but he nearly tugged the man back down. Alex paused for a split second, wondering if such an action would have tugged Cole's arm off before shaking his head. Why was he stopping Cole? Was he actually afraid ... and even if he was, why not let the idiot run off into danger?"

Was this Cole's plan all along?

Alex paused at this notion. For a moment, the hooded abomination felt frustration welling up inside him as he went over their little journey. First, they were in an isolated area, a small community in the mountains. The village was small, but they were in that happy range where it would be feasible they knew each other well enough. Then there was Cole's strange twisting and turning he did just to get them situated. It was like Cole was finding a way to force them to remain ... but why was the village important?

No, the village wasn't important. It was the woman that was important, the thing that wandered outside. Yes, that made a lot more sense. Since Cole and Alex had already seen Yoma, then Cole was trying something else out entirely. Now he was starting to see Cole's callous staring out the window as less of an idiotic move and more like an amazing ploy to reveal Alex's abilities. So now the cat was out of the bag, Cole was reading Alex and vice versa. Clever bastard nearly had Alex doubting the conduit's mental trickery.

Again, he was feeling that sensation. The camaraderie, the quips - all of it seemed artificial as a tingling washed over him. He now recognized that this was no simple feeling, it was a warning. Something or someone was watching him and he only seemed to feel it when he was around Cole.

 _Patience_

Alex heard the conduit's footsteps tap against the tiled roof. A low growl came, but he let the veil of mystery run over him. He'd play Cole's game ... but from what Alex could tell, Cole was starting to hit every little button that could set Alex off. How long would Alex last?

"You coming?" Cole asked.

Alex gave a wordless nod and followed, keeping his steps light to prevent any breakage.

* * *

The town's "Chief" had been a stout male, growth probably stunted in his early years due to malnutrition. Wrinkles and ripples tensed around his brow as sweat glistened across the man's wizened visage. Any man of this age that survived past natural difficulties and Yoma attacks was strong in his own right and one to be respected, but he was only human. If anything, his age helped feed into the fear and to see that the man could still work words and maintain a steady breath was remarkable; Claire had to give this one her silent regard.

As soon as Claire heard the door close behind her, she marched slowly towards the man, choosing to stand instead of taking the seat offered to her. She always did this and even though she felt particularly hurried, the Claymore made sure to avoid sudden movements. In the man's arms was a bag of gold, and as usual, they were always trying to give the money to her.

"Here's the payment for your services," The old man's voice was surprisingly steady as he pushed the money forward, "Please, you can check it's all there."

"No."

How many times had she seen this look, this same shock? She could only imagine what they were thinking, but Claire brushed it all away in favor of speaking the same, a mechanically efficient set of words she always used.

"Once the job is complete, a representative will come by and collect it. I can't accept payment myself."

It took a second to click, but the man nodded slowly. He stood up slowly, "O-okay, whatever you say."

"It means if I fail you and die in the process, you are not obligated to pay anything."

He could barely speak any further, but Claire was too focused on the chief. When he did look like he was going to ask questions, she turned towards the door.

"Wait!" he called, but Claire didn't skip a beat, "Will it be easy finding them?"

"If the Yoma has suppressed its aura enough, it'll be hard to detect. But don't worry, I'll sniff it out. One of us will lie dead somewhere in the village."

The man could take care of himself, so she swiftly stepped out, scattering the crowd that had gathered to listen in. They turned around and feigned ignorance, looking to return to their ordinary lives unless they were watching Claire when her back was turned. To think, one of these shifty-eyed humans would be a hidden Yoma ... and then there was the presence she felt in the window.

Was this luck or misfortune?

It obviously wasn't a Yoma, so perhaps it was ... what she was looking for? Was this to be the routine mission gone rogue? The thought of being so close to something she had been asking about for the past several years was incomprehensible to her. It was a mix of emotions she had always put down easily up until then, but the most poignant sensation she could feel down to her bones was her blood boiling at an inhumane heat. A controlled excitement welled up inside of her, but would she be able to focus it properly?

Well, there was only one way to find out.

With a single leap, Claire bound up from her position and began her search. The sun was still high, and it would be her ally this day.

* * *

"Huh," Cole said as he watched the woman jump up to the roof in a flash. Cole's powers were starting to seem less and less impressive, first with Alex and now with this ... dangerous? Strange? Mysterious? Perhaps beautiful, woman. Her armor was certainly a grade above elegant; it really seemed like the garb befitting of a lady like her. How the woman could wear white in some medieval world like this was beyond him, but the way she pulled everything off from the armor to her uniform and even to her weapon had her positively glowing in his eyes ...

That and she had a really nice ass.

All joking aside, Cole's original impression was starting to fade as he pulled back into an alleyway. Granted, he hadn't looked directly at the lady and from what he remembered, he swore catching a glimpse of the weirdest, most demonic freaky eyes he had ever seen. The golden pair, as he recalled, seemed to pierce right into his soul and he wondered if he would have frozen in place had Alex not tugged him off to the side. As he contemplated, however, the less Cole felt the fear of the unknown take him. Sure, he was in a world with monsters that could transform and, well, she could have been one of the monsters, but the way people were both appalled and fascinated by her seemed ... different.

His thoughts slowly faded back into his head as he turned to Alex, who was still brooding in the shadows in his hoodie.

"She's, uh ... something," Cole said.

"Right," Alex grumbled as he walked past to give a look for himself. Cole relented but noticed the sudden spike of hostility. In fact, Alex had been feeling a lot more defensive after the whole hiding from view situation. At first, Cole wondered if the broody shit was actually worried for once. In fact, maybe Alex had been worried for Cole, like when Alex tried to pull Cole out of the way. Cole wouldn't have thought twice about such a move from anyone else, but now that Cole had a second to think for himself, Alex had truly tried to help him. Had Alex actually worried for Cole's wellbeing so much that he had put himself in danger? The thought was so nice that Cole shoved the possibility down into a grave, as reality set back in.

Cole liked calling himself an optimist, but he'd never go full looney. Given the broody attitude, Alex was probably just being a shit head about things. He could practically hear Alex's growling voiced, whining about being cheated out of eating something so powerful or something. ' _If you weren't in the way, I could have killed her_ ' or maybe a ' _Why are you wasting your time when we could be hunting that thing_ ' sounded much more in character with the biological weapon of mass destruction versus genuine concern for his not so fellow man.

Alex was only a step out from their hiding spot when he looked around, noting the normal folks as they returned to their ordinary lives.

"What was she doing?"

"Beats me. I think she was talking with someone."

Cole felt Alex's eyes glare daggers. Why now of all times, Cole didn't know.

"What are we doing here?" Alex asked.

"Well, she went into that building. Let's get some answers there."

"You've got to be kidding me."

Cole laughed for a moment, enjoying the fun that came with frustrating the stonewall of emotion that was Alex. That was until Alex suddenly snapped and whipped around, tendrils slithering about. Cole scrambled as he looked where Alex was seeing towards an alleyway, but a quick pulse found nothing but dust in the wind.

"What is it?"

Alex said nothing, only loosening his stance before his chaotic flesh slithered back into his arms, "You didn't hear that?"

Cole shook his head, "No?"

Alex grumbled, "Subtle. If you wanted to test my patience, you didn't have to drag me here of all places."

Cole didn't offer a response, but it was more because he was confused more than anything. Moreover, they were now out in the open and arguing with the inhuman man would have only drawn unneeded attention. Still, it was both refreshing and annoying to see his assumptions about Alex proven right. Cole wished Alex would cut the attitude with what was going on. As much as Cole was trying to be a positive figure, things were starting to just hit him from too many angles. His "wing-it" strategy of going to town just to see if he could find information was already starting to unravel with the warrior woman and with Alex starting to bug him, it was only a matter of time before he was going to stop following his own advice of keeping a cool temper.

Cole pushed the living virus to the door he saw the warrior woman exit out of. Everyone seemed to be rather hurried to get busy so slipping inside was easy enough. Alex entered first and as Cole followed, he closed the door before turning. A quaint office greeted him or at least that was what Cole assumed. The place didn't seem like a residential area and while there were some unexplored stairs, the lobby was too open to be anything less than a discussion area.

Cole took the first step in, but quickly heard hurried movement off in another room. Curiosity drew him to the noise, bringing him to the sight of an older man slumped on the ground, a lady taking care of him. He wasn't dead, but the look on his face said he would have preferred it.

"Ey, you okay?" Cole asked with a concerned tone. The man jumped as did the lady on his right. They must have not noticed Cole or Alex entering. Both quickly scrambled to their feet for their visitors and the sight left Cole with a bad taste in his mouth. They were spooked ... and he could guess who caused said spooking.

"I'm so sorry," the older man said. As he got to his feet, he looked towards Cole first before just catching a glimpse of Alex's eternal scowl, "I just needed to recover is all."

"What happened?" Alex suddenly asked as blunt and uncaring as a hammer trying to crack open the man's skull, "Did it have to do with the woman that left?"

"Woman? Oh," the man closed his eyes, pulling in a breath before nodding, "Yes, the Claymore ... she didn't do anything in particular, but I was just ... mmm."

A Claymore, was it? At least now he had a title for that brand of warrior. That being said, he wasn't too sure what to think about asking the old man anything. The elder was still steadying his breath, struggling to not shake all over. Was she that freaky? Could have been the eye thing ... so such a reaction might have made sense, but they acted like she was a complete anomaly. She wasn't that scary. Alex was quiet again and the look in the man's eyes suggested empathy or at least a basic understanding.

"She didn't look that off to me. Very pretty ... but I mean, she looks normal, 'cept the eyes maybe."

The old man almost didn't register Cole's words before his assistant shook him sober, "AH, yes, well I assumed the same, but I swear this conversation took a few years off my life. It was scarier than I expected. I thought she'd be more human. But ... when we talked, and I was in front of her, truly communicating with her, I felt like I was facing a monster."

"Do Claymores typically have this kind of effect on people?" Alex asked from the back, "Is it a learned behavior? Instinctual?"

"Effect? I – I'm sorry, but I don't know what you mean by this learned behavior-"

"Yeah, about that," Cole said trying to steer the conversation back to normal, "What's a Claymore?"

The old man looked stunned, showing that kind of wide-eyed heart attack kind of shock. The information must have been more readily available than Cole thought. Alex tugged on Cole, "I thought you said subtle."

Cole shook his head. He just wanted to ask a question, but of course, Alex would be offended by every little thing. God, where was his friends when he needed them? Why couldn't he have gotten Kuo or Zeke ... hell, even Nix wouldn't be this openly hostile, "Alright, you got a better idea? You know anything about Claymores?"

Alex shook his head, though seemed to be searching for anything useful, "The only thing I got was that he would avoid Claymores. I didn't even know what he meant by Claymores because he didn't seem to truly know what they were either."

Cole sighed, turning back to the old man, "Okay, well Mister, we need some help cause we're freaking out and we have no idea what a Claymore is. I'm from a long way out, just far away, you know? We've been away from home for long enough and now's a good time for some answers."

"I could guess as much," The old man said as he tried to follow the logic, but Cole didn't give him too much time to think further.

"Claymore though, what are they? Who are they?"

"Uh ... they're warriors from The Organization. They're Yoma hunters – or have you not heard of-"

"Yeah, we know what Yoma are," Cole said reassuringly, "Still, what kind of group just calls themselves 'The Organization'?"

"The kind that knows they're the only 'organization' around," Alex suddenly said, jumping in, "They make the Claymores, don't they? What do they do? How do they make them? What do you know old man?"

Cole frowned as he heard the question, "What are you doing?"

Alex looked visibly annoyed as he turned back to Cole, "I'm asking questions, what do you think I'm doing?"

Cole shook his head, feeling stress pinch at a bundle of nerves on his forehead.

"Fine, sorry Mister. Could you answer his question?"

The old man shrugged, "I ... I mean, I don't know. I hear they make warriors by putting in the flesh of those monsters, but that's all I know."

It was at this point, Alex seemed to flip a switch, no longer content from leaning off to the side. Instead, he came marching back over to the man, pushing past Cole with a surprising amount of force. Cole had to actively shuffle his feet to balance himself again, and by that point, Alex pulled the old man out of his chair.

"What aren't you telling me?" Alex hissed, "Answer me. Don't make me do this the hard way."

Okay, what in the hell was going on? The progression of annoyance made sense, but where was this hostility. Did Alex just have a thing against old people? Did anyone have a thing against old people?

"Alex, Jesus Christ, what the hell are you doing?" Cole said as he tried to get between

Cole's hands grasped Alex's arms, but as he tried to pull Alex back, he found an incredible resistance. Alex felt like a god damn rock, unmoving and unrelenting. At least he wasn't interrogating the man anymore, who was looking more panicked and confused by the second, with the assistant behind him paralyzed with shock.

"I think I'm allowed to ask a few unusual questions Mr. 'What's a Claymore'. You think you can fool me?"

"I ... uh ... what? I mean, that's a perfectly, reasonable question. Fool you with what? You sound crazy."

"Oh? Is that so? I sound crazy? Very big coincidence that you just happen to be coming over to this office at this specific time. I find it convenient that we just happen to wander to this town right when the 'Claymore' does the same thing, if that's what they're even called."

What in the – Cole was sure Alex was high off of something, "Jesus Christ, I'm just telling you to tone it down and make some goddamn sense. What the hell is wrong with you? You've had a stick up your ass ever since you got here."

"You think I wouldn't notice? I know your game, Macgrath."

"... WHAT?" Cole looked between the old man and Alex. Cole wasn't even trying to pull Alex off anymore; he felt like he was going insane, "Am I crazy? Old man? Did I do anything? I haven't done shit!"

The old man wasn't about to answer, but Alex gave a good enough response, "You've done plenty to fuck with me and guess what, I'm through with dealing with your bullshit now," Alex suddenly pointed to the old man, "Who's this fucker? Why did you want us meeting him?"

Cole couldn't believe what he was hearing. Wasn't Alex supposed to be some logical fucking ass hat? Where were the scientists he talked about eating? The guy was starting to sound less rational by the second, a weird glint hiding behind that hood. What was that look? He knew he had seen it somewhere ... maybe even heard what was causing the weird spike in aggression. It was ... it had to be ...

You know what, Cole didn't need to deal with this. He didn't need to have infinite patience for this idiot. He didn't need to put up with a sociopathic bioweapon that only knew how to bitch. Yeah, they were lost in god knows where, but this was unacceptable.

"How about you just shut the fuck up, huh?" Cole finally snapped back, "You know what you sound like? A whining little bitch. I'm tired of your goddamn complaints about every little thing I try to do, meanwhile, I gotta be patient with you and doing all this thinking for the both of us-"

"I don't **need** you to think for me," Alex growled, interrupting the conduit as something slithered along the edges of Alex's form, "In fact, I don't need you at all. I don't need you to think, I don't need you to breathe, I don't even need you to exist. You're utterly worthless to me and don't you ever make me believe some fairy tale bullshit that you're some fucking godsend to me. I know better than to trust another guy trying to examine me like a fucking lab rat with a bunch of eyes running around to watch me!"

Cole was fuming. Words may have entered into Cole's head, they may have been processed by his mind but just as soon as they came in, the words quickly flew out the other ear. He wasn't having any of it anymore as he tried to pull Alex off the old man.

"That's it, let him go you."

"Why? So I can't hurt your little spy? Maybe I should get the spy at the innkeep's place too, huh?"

"No, because he's getting seesawed between you and me. LET HIM GO."

Pulling on Alex's arms seemed to be a futile effort, but Cole's frustration was getting the better of him. Worst yet, he knew he was too frustrated to think properly, but he cared very little here. More stress piled on as Alex resisted Cole's attempts and while Cole was doing more to pull the crazy hooded man off the Chief, not once did Cole truly seem to comprehend how wrong everything seemed. All he knew was that Alex was a fucking idiot ...

That was when he felt the blood splatter on his face.

* * *

The outside air was particularly agreeable, even as the stench of blood seemed to stain Claire's nostrils. The scent was a mix of dead flesh and rotten meat, pooled together in an aged, bloody miasma. She swung the claymore and splattered the blood off the blade and covered the walls. Not a drop had stained her white garb or her armor as she jumped out from the hole in the roof

Claire still couldn't believe she had found the Yoma in record time, perhaps the fastest she had ever found one. From investigating where the body was found to finding a trail, Claire had discovered the very full Yoma in less than half an hour. Even the creature had been particularly slow to react as it was physically sluggish from its very recent meal. So many strings of lucky instances were jarring to Claire. Typical or not, a hunt never took such a short time. Everything just seemed more and more suspicious.

Exiting the building, she took a turn around the bend, hoping to head towards the entrance to find something again. Perhaps she'd feel her instincts call to her again, or maybe she'd get some voice in her head to tell her where to look. She was just about to reach that area and investigate when she heard a different voice. It was a scream and the voice instantly had Claire snapping to attention at the noise. Without a moment's hesitation, Claire bolted up towards the nearest building and ran towards the direction of the voice. Once more, a crowd was gathering, but it was sparse. There wasn't enough time for people to wander to the now, downed lady who had seemingly tripped in a panic. Claire recognized the girl, the assistant to the Chief ... and Claire could guess who the girl was running away from.

"MONSTER!" she said as she came down. Claire expected this, but as she inspected closer, the girl wasn't looking at Claire ... the girl was looking at the door of the Chief's office.

"What's going on?" Claire said as she pulled the girl up to her feet. The assistant was hyperventilating, eyes wide with inhuman horror marring her expression.

"M-MONSTER! DEMON!" the girl said, and Claire pulled her out of the way. Claire pulled out the sword, intending to find what the hell was going on when she suddenly watched the front-facing wall of the building explode her way.

Claire jumped back at the surprise and expected more to come, only to find nothing of the sort had come. Instead, found the shape of what looked to be a man, dressed in a hooded ... piece of clothing – she just couldn't tell what it was. Said man was panting, still alive from some unknown attack. Inside the building, she could see another figure, another man wielding a forked weapon of sorts. Strange lights twisted and flicked off the weapon and with the townsfolk fully gathered, they began whispering again and this time they weren't whispering about her.

And of all the times now, Claire just had to feel that sensation again, the same instinctive alarm inside of her telling her something was horribly wrong.

It wasn't the man in the building, now walking forward. It wasn't any kind of Yoma. It was the downed and beaten man, now getting up as some strange shapes began to slither around him. She thought it a trick of the light when she saw his arm getting enveloped by red, worm-like forms. It was only when the worms disappeared that she suddenly saw a massive blade shaping out from the dirt. Claire didn't even flinch as she shouted.

"GET OUT OF HERE! LEAVE!" As Claire charged forward within the blink of an eye.

She would not hesitate in the face of terror itself.

* * *

 **Please read and review!**

 **I got "The Pen or The Sword" to thank for beta reading and for getting me out of a writer's block.**


	7. Arc 1 Chapter 6: The Claymore part 3

**Please read and review. All comments help whether they're criticisms or praise.**

* * *

He's open.

No, he's waiting.

Push him away.

He's toying with you.

He didn't do anything wrong.

Why can't he wait?

Killing him solves nothing.

Lying bastard.

What's wrong with you?

Don't let him fight you.

Give him your attention.

Listen to him.

You're nothing. You're utterly, disgustingly worthless-

Shut up

xxx̵̷̢͞x̧̧x̨͢X̶͜X̷̢͘͠X̛͜͝͡X̷̸̧̢̕X X̨̡X͙̻̜̭̖͇̞͙ͦ̂͟

It was a flood of voices, of thoughts tearing away at the seams of his mind. Where they came from, he could not say, but they were loud - too loud, louder than anything he had heard in his life. And like the frog in the boiling pot, Alex was none the wiser about the chaos in his mind, even as he felt a need to pull at his figurative mental lobes and obliterate it just as he had with the Yoma ... yes, the Yoma. That was ... why was he thinking about ...

Calm

How could he forget? Forget nothing. Remember everything. Oh yes, the yoma, he remembered it. My hate seethes through him, but then there was calm. You feel rage and loss pooled followed by tranquility but then hunger? There was no hunger. Hunger did not exist with Alex and I. Rage. Only he remained – stop it who was talking? No, he was bitter, but it wasn't his fault. Entering, exiting, something, nothing … it wasn't their fault. Only ... wait, what was. Feel now, it's speaking. Entropy. You. Enter. Solidarity.

X̨̡X͙̻̜̭̖͇̞͙ͦ̂͟X̷͉͔̀X̷̢̧͏͞X̷̢͘͠X̛͜͝͡X̷̸̧̢̕XX̳̯̱͕͉͉̫̗̰̀͜X̥͕̯͚̖̜̤X

Who's fault? Who knew? He didn't want to care anymore. He had other things to do, now that he was here.

No! HATE, he needed his hatred, his rage to push. Forward momentum needed to be maintained forever.

The thoughts of flesh melded up to bone, calcified and eroded, endless and bloodied.

He moved. Just moved an inch. Perhaps more than an inch. Alex knew he moved more than just an inch, sliding out of the way from the vice grip latched to his fleshy clothes. Everything was quiet now, peace returning to him. Why couldn't it be like this forever ... and why did Alex know this wouldn't last? He felt nothing, sensed nothing, took nothing. It was only when a hot flash of blood splashed on his face that Alex turned to his right. The old man looked at him, but he looked pale. His eyes looked hazy, body growing limp ...

Wait, no, that was a minute ago. The old man was gone.

A silent trickle of sensations seeped into him when he finally digested memories of an old, tired man that wished to live with his family, but he had no more family left other than his village. He was lost. He was foolish. He was innocent.

He has nothing.

Alex was blind.

You are blind to read me.

"What-"

Alex felt himself fly back as his flesh reshaped his face. The voices were gone again ... but now he had bigger things to worry about.

* * *

 **Lightning, Blood, and Steel**

Arc 1 Chapter 6: The Claymore part 3

* * *

It all happened so fast and yet so slow. Cole was frozen as he saw a sight so alien to him that he couldn't help but watch in a terrified fascination. Red tendrils, twisted and foul, were coming off Alex like a tumor given life. It writhed and twisted, hungrily snapping away at prey. Of course, in all the time he had his eye on the tendrils, for whatever reason, he wasn't shocked by the appearance.

He was too preoccupied with the old man's lifeless eyes staring back at him.

Red flesh and sinew tore through muscle in an instant as Alex pulled the body towards him. The whole action of killing, pulling and eating was a mere matter of seconds, as though Alex was made of some hungry fluid rather than a biological organism. This twisted amalgam of a human shape desecrated the man's form, swallowing it under a mass of tendrils and shapeless flesh before he reshaped himself back into a now screaming Alex.

And then he became still.

Cole felt himself gripping at the hilt of his amp, muscles tensing as he kept still. The old man's assistant, the one that had been standing behind the man, was awash in a similar pallor white. A part of Cole wondered if she was even breathing or if some instinctive twitch in the back of her brain had stalled the process. Even Cole, who had fought everything from cryomancers to giant monsterfelt the need to stand still. One false move, one stupid motion and he imagined it being his body getting swallowed up.

In all this, Alex's face gave off a sense of complete loss. His expression held grit teeth and blazing eyes outlined by his hood. Even with all this power and the ability to strike fear in Cole, something was off. Was Alex really there? A part of Cole urged him to check, but survival was critical as Cole kept himself steady, his hand slowly easing his amp out of its magnetic braces.

"What ..." Alex gave his hand a hard look before his eyes shifted back to Cole. The look was tired … and hungry. Alex's head was turning to the assistant, "You -"

"M-M-MONSTER, DEMON! THE CHIEF! HE's-"

The old man's assistant let out a horrified shriek, her words reduced to a jumbled mess as she tried to run. Cole's eyes were locked on Alex as the monster in human skin watched before ...

What the fuck. What the hell were his eyes -

Cole wasn't really sure what happened in the next second. Of course, he knew he had jerked his amp out. He knew the girl's words fell on deaf ears when his body seemed to work off of instinct, pulling the amp to attack the thing in front of him. Cole knew that Alex was still in a daze, but just before it made contact, Alex dipped backward and pulled some kind of black, fleshy shield out of nowhere. Hot lightning melted the flesh while it held, but Cole 's time with his amp helped his instincts. He was whipping around Alex, spinning to deliver another strike around Alex back side.

This one hit hard, sending Alex, shield and all, towards the front door. The door and the structure holding the wooden frame collapsed under the virus' weight. All the tension in Cole seemed to dissipate, as all his pent-up sensations finally released in that one strike ...but Alex didn't seem hurt at all. The only thing affecting the man was an unseen force bouncing around in the man's mind. Alex's eyes and posture said more than his broody voice could ever produce ... and Cole was hesitating.

He had seen Alex being freaky. He had seen the whip fist, the tendrils crawling about as it turned into a large blade of sorts now. The eating had phased him as well, but body horror only did so much to push Cole off balance. Cole wasn't afraid of Alex or his powers ... what really disturbed him were his eyes.

For a moment, he swore he saw something past Alex, something else entirely. It was like he was staring into an abyss, one that Cole couldn't see the end of. It was the only reason why he wasn't charging forward in a reckless haze, trying some desperate bid to fight Alex. It wasn't the threat of Alex he was worried about; some animalistic instinct was telling him that Alex was just one piece of something far greater.

Not even The Beast had sobered Cole to this extent.

"GET OUT OF HERE! LEAVE!"

His eyes flicked upwards and he saw a charging swords woman suddenly bolting for Alex. If Cole had lungs, he'd have been holding his breath as Alex seemed to turn around slowly. Mercer was being sluggish, almost unresponsive... like something was holding his mind back. Alex was doing nothing, and Cole was watching.

Fear.

Cole bolted forward, suddenly pulling out the amp in defense of the very man he had attacked. She tried to cut him down and Cole was there in a flash, holding back the blade with the Amp's handle. Confused didn't even describe what he was feeling. All the fear and twisted sensations just writhing in his non-existent gut told – no, screamed at Cole to not let harm come to Alex.

At this point, he had no idea how Alex would respond.

"Alex," Cole said, desperately trying to get through to the man. Alex, however, was far too inundated to hear Cole. He wasn't unconscious persay simply ... out of it. The man looked like a vegetable ... a dangerous vegetable.

Fuck, he needed to stop it with the jokes.

Cole grunted back, hissing between his teeth as he felt the sword push down even harder. He was practically kneeling when he spat, "Alex, stop fucking napping and wake up!"

Did he expect that to work? Not really, so when Alex seemed to wake up in a cold sweat, Cole eyes were as wide as saucers, staring back at the hooded man. Alex looked at Cole, Cole looked at Alex, Alex looked at the sword, and so on and so forth. Before Alex could say anything, Cole pushed the sword of the woman away and gave Alex a sudden kick to the chest. Jesus, Alex was heavy.

"What did-"

"Are you really going to ask questions?" Cole turned to face Alex, "Get out of here before you go full retard again!"

For a moment, Alex looked like he was about to respond before something flashed in his dark eyes. Cole read Alex's face and he could see hesitation – no regret mind you, but ... there was something. Without another word, Alex jumped to his feet and just as he was about to crotch, Alex stumbled. Something was hitting him again, and Cole was just about to help when another sword strike came. Cole dodged as he watched Alex run rather than bound about like a superhuman monster.

With that out of the way … now he traded one fucking travesty for another.

"Well fuck me."

* * *

Claire fought monsters, beasts, Yoma ... not warriors. Granted, the bald one was sloppy as could be. He swung his pronged weapon with no regard for its weight or proper form that it left openings within each strike. To see such terrible sword play would have left her gagging had she not be preoccupied with other matters.

His speed was one such matter. No matter how many openings he had, even when she saw him completely open for a strike, simply aiming an attack one way was nearly impossible. She only had split seconds to shift her stance before another hit came forward in a vicious flurry of strikes, unending. She had thought to defend against each attack, but each attack was getting faster by the second, each sliver of a second getting tighter by the blow. Each hit had her moving back an inch and she only stopped when she hit her back to the wall.

Instead of another strike, he pulled back with his prong, aiming to spear her, or trap her – she didn't care. She dove out the way and she could hear the smashing of rock followed by harsh curses. Instead of looking, she sprinted to put distance before turning her head. Sure enough, the man's weapon was stuck, though he managed to tug the rod out. To think, this man was able to spear into stone with blunt tips.

"Hey, you mind?"

Claire looked to the man's face. Frustration, anger – but no rage; Claire found the sight curious, but still kept her guard up high as she turned herself with the sword facing forward. The man rolled his eyes.

"Okay, I get it," he kicked the dirt a bit before looking around. He seemed distracted, "Quiet type ... less distracting then."

"I'm not quiet," Claire commented as she began to slowly circle him, "You just talk too much."

The man shrugged, "Huh ... alright then? "

"No," she said as she bolted forward. Her claymore tore at the ground as she closed the distance in a single stride. Dirt and gravel flew up at the man before she aimed a strike at the man's vulnerable side, which was surprisingly the side that held the weapon. He had good reaction as he pulled his weapon around, but she wasn't aiming to hit him. The prong met her sword at an awkward angle, giving her a clear point of attack. Even in the split second her eye caught the moment, she knew her sword's sharpened edges were pushing past the metal, slicing through the first and then the second prong. Had he not made the surprising move to roll with her strike, she might have cleaved him in two ... but now she had the advantage.

Following the momentum of her attack, she spun around, pulling the sword from up high to aim down at the man. She barely missed, though mostly due to the man's frantic burst of speed. It seemed he too could dart about, but the manner of such locomotion was striking. Tendrils of lightning crackled from his hand while wide eyes stared back at Claire. The man was stunned, utterly shocked. She couldn't blame him; it wasn't every day you faced death by claymore.

"Jesus Christ," he shouted, standing up as he checked his damaged weapon, "You fucking- you almost killed me!"

"That **is** the point. I hope for your sake that you understand how swords work," she said raising her eyebrow. What was this feeling she was getting, amusement? She normally didn't speak so ... casually. This was supposed to be a monster and something she despised. Instead, she was talking to him like he was human ... and she sure as hell knew he wasn't human.

The man spun his pronged weapon up and checked the work Claire had done to the tips. They were sheared clean in a diagonal slice with one side now larger than the other. He whistled as he gave Claire a worried look.

"Okay, well, that's sharp."

"Quite," Claire said pulling both hands to her sword's hilt.

"It's Cole, by the way."

She frowned, "I didn't ask."

"Well then it's a freebie," he said.

The man was light on his feet, bouncing up and down in preparation. Preparation for what, she could not say, but she was poised to strike him down at least. With his weapon cut in half, she was certain he'd show off some more of his inhuman abilities rather than trying whatever excuse of swordplay his assault had been. He was looking at the cut metal shards laying by Claire's feet when he spoke again.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to - uh – send them my way?"

She narrowed her eyes, "You have legs. Use them."

"Good idea."

She braced for an attack, legs spread to hold herself steady. Instead of receiving an attack, however, the man jumped ... higher than she had anticipated. She switched her stance but before she knew it, the man was floating of all things. Wait, he was running away!

Not wanting him to get away,she jumped onto the rooftop giving chase Clearly, this was the more dangerous of the two.

* * *

 **Please read and review!**

 **The hints are gone. I have removed them as of 12/1/19.  
Let the story continue.**


	8. Arc 1 Chapter 7: The Claymore part 4

Why the hell did anyone like charcuterie boards?

He found the practice and creation to be odd, especially now that he was here, chopping away at stubborn cheeses that clung to his knife. The smell of the chunks loitered about the room as blue globs of azure mold dabbled against his deep silver cutlery. The very effort was starting to eat away at his patience, and he had yet to finish the cheddar, the gouda, the brie, and whatever meats were pat _i_ ently waiting to be consumed.

Ligh _t_ came _i_ n from the window, though no breeze could ever get past the sealed glas _s_ pane. _A_ s such, the air remained steady, co _l_ d and blistering to some, but perfect for cheese trays. But did they cheese care? No, of course not. Whatever the cheese came from was dead and gone and the cheese, we _l_ l, the cheese was his to deal with now.

The gunk stuck to the edge of his bl _a_ de, even after the last bits of the blue cheese crumbled into its own litt _l_ e corner. Cheese always had a problem staying where _i_ t should have been, either clinging to kniv _e_ s or getting caught in teeth between bites of dry crackers. Of course, the cheese had never acting in such a way before, but then again, he had always taken cheese in manageable chunks.

A bit of a chew here, some meat over t _h_ ere – nothing too overwhelming as to clog things together. He only had trouble when his overzealousness shrouded his judgement. _E_ at it all, his head would tell him. None of the pain mattered. Then again, how else was he supposed to a _c_ t with such a simple treat for him. All he needed was to throw a piece in and chew it up and then chemical pleasure w _o_ uld do all the rest.

Alas, the cheese tray, why have so much preparation for so little payoff? He never understood why anyone would gather the time to prepare a _m_ eal so simple, so unb _e_ reft of culinary _s_ kill, just to see it eaten in such a short amount of time. Such a time to create and consume should have been dedicated to a unique experience, not something to be eaten wholesale as a collection of thoughts and words strewn about a room.

Eating something wasn't supposed to be like this. He wasn't supposed to be _f_ ancy. He wasn't supp _o_ sed to ca _r_ ve sub sections into manageable bites. He was supposed to consume. He was supposed to eat without feeling like this.

A slipped knife suddenly brought Alex out of his head as he pulled back. The sensations towards his finger burned hot as bright as the blood leaking from his finger. He was about to curse the heavens, curse his ████ for making him cut all this cheese for their ██████ get together, when his eyes came down to the culprit that wounded him.

There was more blood than there should have been. A finger didn't produce regret. His e _y_ es followed the blotches of red, only to find that it continued _o_ n and on, flowing o _u_ t into the blue hues as they mixed into a blackened mush. Meats once hearty and reddened now fe _l_ l spoiled as fli _e_ s danced with a hungry glare. _T_ hey tore into the flesh – flesh? Where was the kitchen? Where was the table? The cutlery? The sun? His hand grew outstretched, stuck in so _me_ thing as he tried to pull out of a wet, sticky ichor the taste of which seemed to dig into his skin. What was this sensation? Betrayal? Anguish? Hate? He tasted – no – felt it all coming to him. He ate it, feeling it all come back to him. He … he needed – no he didn't.

You do though.

Why was he asking these questions? You're a liar. Traitor. How dare you? When did I ask for all this? Who the hell is talking? You should have died when you had the chance? We trusted you. Blood in the water. It hurts, please. Where am I? What aren't you telling me? How did I get here? Shut up Mercer. You were a snake then and you're a snake now. We should have never trusted you. Please, _help_ me, I didn't mean to. Fuck, me which one am I. You're suffering. You are our suffering. AH! IT HURTS! Shut up. SHUT UP! You have to see it, Mercer. Just die already. You're a cancer, Alex Mercer. Everything was a lie. It was all meant for you. See through the words. The regret. Step back.

And then he did.

* * *

 **Lightning, Blood and Steel**

Arc 1 Chapter 7: The Claymore part 4

* * *

Cole heard the sword first before he felt it shear the air near his face, the man dodging back from yet another relentless strike. Rooftiles scattered like shrapnel. The explosive hit, mere inches from him, had him darting another way for an escape but the swordswoman was gunning for him. She was getting faster, more aggressive. One slash became two, then three. Cole had a mine to shove her back with a pulse, but with how quick she was, he wondered if she would be on him faster than he could recharge his wave.

She finally made a mistake as her sword impaled a particularly thick chimney; a strike intended for his chest that he dodged with a quick roll. Her speed reminded him of his future self-darting around the battlefield. When she took her sword out by pulverizing the chimney, however, a corrupted ravager felt like a more apt comparison.

"Holy shit."

The woman scoffed, "Your friend was quite slow compared to you."

He shrugged, "Well, I don't know his deal. He'll get better."

Her brow furrowed as she aimed the sword at him, "I doubt he could recover from being bisected in half."

Cole sighed. Why did he have to deal with weird, hyper-aggressive types like this? Was she trying to prove something to someone? Somehow, he got the impression that he didn't have all the cards, but he shook his head. Misunderstanding or not, she was still trying to kill him.

"Sure, whatever you think'll do the job."

She came forward, cutting his sentence short. This time he was ready as he whipped around with his damaged amp. He caught sight of her surprise before he smashed the amp against her shoulder, flinging her off the roof. He had to admit, he might have over done it, but seeing as she was part yoma, he assumed she wasn't even close to done.

Cole jumped down and darted for her, careful to come at her weak spot on her left. She was right-handed, sword down. Even if she was fast, he guessed that even she would need a moment to recover. His theory proved true as he kicked her. He felt bones crack before she flew into a wall.

"Shit," he spat. Now that might have been too much. He'd need to check on her then, but at least now he was pretty sure she was down. The dust slowly dissipated, leaving behind rubble and lady sized hole, "You cooled down yet?"

No answer - Cole cursed as he tried headed in through the cloud. He was just about to see how she was when became his turn to get surprised as she came from his flank. Cole heaved to the side as he took a shoulder charge, knocking the amp out of his hand.

He rolled to dampen the blow and even then, he had skidded across the dirt before his fingers dug in. His vision jerked back up to see her coming for him … and without a sword no less. No wonder she caught him off guard.

Fuck it. Not caring about the repercussions, he gave into instinct as his hands glowed. A normal bolt would have done nothing to stop momentum, but a chilling gust of ice did the trick. Without the sword, her forward momentum suddenly reversed, causing her to whiplash backwards. She landed on her side, tumbled and shaking. A second later, she was back on her feet. Blood leaked from the sides of her lips.

"What was that?" she asked softly.

Cole scoffed, "Magic. Trust me, I got more where that came from."

The Claymore spat on the ground. Blood oozed out from her lips as she took a step or so back. She leaned down to grab at Cole's amp. He could see her looking over the amp, eyes running up and down the weapon's edge before he

"Strange weapons, strange abilities – you're a ravenous one, aren't you?"

For a moment, he didn't quite understand what she had meant. Ravenous? Like he wanted to eat someone? The thought clicked when he took the second and realized what she meant.

"No, but thanks for asking before you tried to cleave me in half."

"Who was the other one that you told to leave? Is he another ravenous one? I didn't know your type congregated like rats."

Cole rolled his eyes. Great, she was ignoring him. Of course, the sword wielding monster hunter just had to be deaf as she was murderous. Cole wasn't liking where things were going. He had planned on distracting the lady for a hot second before finding Alex again, but she was tough.

Scratch that, more than tough. She was keeping up with him, stopping him from truly getting too far before attacking and even when attacked, she adapted on the fly. This lady was no joke.

"Well thanks, really appreciate it," he huffed, "I love being compared to roadkill."

"It's too good for your kind, if you ask me."

Cole smirked back, loving the vocal back and forth, "Well look at you, getting all talkative now."

Her answer was an ever-familiar sideways swing aimed for his temple. He dropped down, diving rightward but she followed with an overhead. Metal clashed with dirt and rock as it clanged near him as he rolled. It sparked but not from electricity.

"HEY! Watch it! That's a god damn gift!"

When the third and final swing imbedded the sliced side of the prong into a wall, Cole took the initiative and drew a punch into her cheek. Bolts and sparks crackled, and the woman twisted around. The solid hit should have dropped her, but she remained upright. She remained stunned long enough to get his Amp back.

"Persistent," the woman said.

Cole turned to see her finally backing off towards the previously caved in wall. She tugged at the swords hilt and it came free with a single tug. Sound rippled against the blade's edge as it sliced the air. Compared to his amp, the sword had neither a dent nor a scratch.

Tough as shit, sharper than god knows what, and non-conductive – was this sword designed to fuck him over? As he got a feel for his Amp, he even noticed the handle warped where the woman had squeezed particularly hard.

"Got any more of those swords I can use?"

She remained silent, reminding him of Alex again. At least she answered back, "Trust me – we'll only need the one."

"No shit? You're giving it to me then?"

She grumbled, "Why do you keep talking?"

"I mean, it fair, right? You got to try the Amp. Why don't I get your sword?"

She paused momentarily, scanning him as he stood attentively in anticipation. For as much he tried to jest, Cole had equally put as much effort in how he could get out situation. This was the quippiest he had been, spouting off words and commentary as much as he could just because he knew it worked to throw the sword obsessed maniac off. Ironically, it was his words that did more to pacify her compared to the actual attack he had thrown her way, but he could only wish that words could have been enough.

"Why?"

Cole looked back up at the woman, her eyes glinting the faint golden hue the villagers had spoken about.

"Why what?"

"The running, the passivity – why?"

Cole sighed, "Would you even believe me if I said this was all a misunderstanding?"

"… No, I suppose not."

"Yea, I figured."

Consistency told him she was going to attack again, but this time, she merely pointed her sword his way. The massive weight she held just to do such a maneuver looked staggering and yet she had no trouble glaring her way towards Cole.

"You and your friend – I will hunt you both down. Run, fight – it doesn't matter. I'll always find you and end you. You are not getting out of this alive."

Cole laughed. He wasn't sure if he or Alex were even considered alive. He tightened his grip in the newly made grooves, bringing the damaged prong to life again.

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

* * *

Alex came to in an alleyway, his forehead rubbed raw against the side of the building as he began comprehending the world again. Frayed nerves and overworked cells twisted as he pulled himself onto his feet but … then again, at least they worked. His legs shook, muscles and flesh pulsed. Alex didn't know where he was. Alex almost didn't even want to ask.

No wait, he did.

He was some streets from the mayor's house, past a bridge looking structure and into an alley that would open out into a northern exit from the town. This was real. The street was real. The dirt and the grime were real. The stinging wound on his hand was screaming at him as his fingers dig into his human facsimile of a palm and by god, they had gotten in deep.

Alex pulled at the stuck digits, sliding the bladed edges, less prominent version of his claws. How he had managed to create such a condensed version of his claw hands, he couldn't say. They were usually too difficult and far too concentrated to make small and yet in his mental breakdown, he managed to form normal sized bladed fingers on the tips of his digits. They were still sharp though as evident by his self-harm. Alex was careful not to hurt himself further so as soon as he pulled his fingers out of his palm, he got rid of the mutation.

A faint but heavy twang was the next to draw his attention as were footfalls. They were far off but amongst the chaotic running and cooing cries for help, the faint strikes of metal hitting wood and stone louder than thunderstorms. Metal? Roof tiles? Was someone having a sword fight on top of the houses?

His head flashed with pain for a moment as he recalled the culprits. Cole and the claymore, of course, but such recollection came with a cost. Tension coursed over him, turning his adaptable flesh rigid one moment and flimsy the next.

And why the hell was he tasting … cheese?

The harsh clanging seemed to grow louder even when he could sense their battle still taking place in the same relative distance. Only the open palm kept him from fading and before long, he felt honest to god sweat course over himself. It was even worse when Cross had injected him with that anti-virus. At least then he knew to keep his mind off his back and adapt accordingly. This pain, this instance of overwhelming sensations, just kept moving. Adapting or blocking nodes one way simply had it subverting or shifting its efforts elsewhere in a never-ending battle that threatened once more to pull him down.

He needed to get away. He needed to move, to get out before he drowned. The voices … all the voices.

He picked up his pace as he followed the narrow corridor of stone. The road behind him shifted as he became lost in a maze again. The walls felt taller as he tried to pull his gaze towards the sky and escape seemed hopeless. Instinct told him to jump as he gathered biomass towards his legs. Muscles formed as quickly as he ripped and forced himself to gather strength. Even crippled by his pain, Alex would not let himself be held down. He was gonna get away. He was going to figure out what was happening. He was-

 _Don't … don't run …_

His body contorted, legs suddenly giving out in shock as he fell towards a nearby wall. The voice was different. In fact, it was louder and clearer than anything he had felt since - well, ever. He darted his head, eyes shifting left and right before he twisted himself around. The only way he could have heard something so clearly was if it was right next to him … or if he had heard it in his head.

"Who said that?" Alex quietly asked, simultaneously hoping he wasn't crazy. No answers came. Silence taunted him as he stood up and shouted in a reckless haze of rage, "ANSWER ME!"

On instinct, his claws jutted out from his arms, but he soon realized his mistake. Hot, mental needles jutted through his mind, as though his nonexistent brain was being polished by barbed wires and rubbed along each node. The only hope for reprieve was letting go. He pulled back his power and with it followed the pain.

"Fuck … fuck," he cursed, scowling underneath his hood. He was starting to reconsider Cole's words about –

He winced again. It wasn't as bad but what the hell?! Now thinking about Cole was hurting him? What kind of a sick joke was this? He tugged himself along the wall, keeping a steady pace for his sake rather than to get anywhere on time. For a moment, he considered stopping and bashing in his head in or maybe exploding into a giant mass of tendrils to let go of it all. It was the easy way out. He couldn't even think of any other options.

Then again … maybe that was what they wanted. The voices, the mood swings, the head fuckery – someone was gonna pay. He just needed to leave. He needed to center himself and get his options. Away from Cole. Fuck! Fuck Cole! Fuck the Claymore. Fuck everything. He needed to get out and run.

 _You … can't run … stop … running …_

"Fuck you," Alex spat.

Again, the silence followed, and the virus waited. The pain dissipated but he held firm this time, focusing only on the voice. If the damn voice didn't want him to run, then Alex was going to give the voice what it wished with as much spite as he could give. It was the clearest thing in his head to even think about.

"Answer me!" he shouted ad his eyes caught movement again. He lunged for the corner, darting around as he recalled the path would lead into a dead end. Alas, no one seemed to be here and no residue of force or dust indicating jumping. What was he seeing then; some specter made to taunt him?

 _I will … try._

The haze began to lift from over his eyes. Sight and sounds were coming back to him as he felt his senses returning stronger than before. He should have been completely alone, yet, as he turned around, his instincts told him otherwise. Even as the villagers scattered in every which way other than his own, even when insects and mice had a sense to run off - somehow, he knew someone was waiting to stare him down. He was ready to be cornered and he faced his match.

He just never expected that someone to be a kid.

"Hello," came a meek, boyish voice.

Alex blinked. He could hear the kid as clear as the open sky, but at the same time, he felt as though he hadn't heard anything at all. Only at the tail end of the singular word came through.

Nevertheless, he felt details slipping back in his head, his observation skills returning in full force. He was a small little thing, draped in clothes several sizes too large for his size. The fabrics were as dark as his hair – hell – they were as dark as Alex's clothes. Even with his inexperience with children, he approximated 8 to 10 years of age … though his eyes told a different story.

A pair of dark brown eyes answered Alex's own gaze and while looking or meeting Alex's eyeline wasn't outright impressive in it of itself, there was something about the boy's eyes that sparked his curiosity.

Was that fear he saw? No, it was too strong to be fear. Perhaps hatred then, yes. That would make sense … though the boy didn't have an aggressive bone about him. He still held back, hugging himself as his clothes draped over him, eyes firm and looking back not in a glare but rather … in defiance. Was that Dana he was seeing?

The boy shifted in place, clearly feeling Alex's eyes watch him. Alex stepped forward to get a better look and the kid flinched in place.

"You," Alex muttered, thinking to himself, "You're the little shit that's been following me."

The boy held his breath, chest shaking underneath his clothes. He scrunched his head into his clothes, but at least he wasn't running.

"No … I … I didn't follow you."

Alex scoffed, "Is that so? That wasn't you back with the Yoma … that wasn't you at the inn, scurrying around?"

The boy went quiet again, but this time he recovered his wit far more quickly, "That was me … but I … I didn't follow you … Mr. Alex."

Mr. Alex? That was a first. What did they call him again? Zeus, blacklight, terrorist, Mercer … but Mr. Alex. It was like the kid was afraid to even say his last name, let alone call Mercer for what he was.

"Is that it? You're not following, oh no, but you're fucking with me, is that it?"

Alex drew himself closer, the distance becoming mere feet as Alex towered over the now trembling boy. No longer having the distance of safety no doubt drew a different reaction, one of shaken resolve rather than building confidence. To some, this would have been called bullying, but was far more lenient to Alex compared to the alternative.

"You … can't eat me," the boy suddenly said, breaking Alex's concentration.

"Excuse me?" Alex said, now inches away from the child, "You don't make the rules here. I do. I want you to tell me what the hell is going on and I want a straight fucking answer."

"… No."

The balls on this little shit. Alex sneered in disgust, tempted to go for it. In fact, his body rippled as he contemplated the possibility of eating every little memory the kid had before he responded, "You're gonna start talking or I'm going to-"

"Rip … m-my spine … a-a-and eat me painfully," the kid answered back. Alex blinked; the kid had said the exact thing he was going to say.

"How did you do that? What are you doing?"

"I- … No."

The boy was firmer now, his shaking ceasing as he looked back into Alex's eyes.

"No … I … can't … and you can't eat me … or anyone. It hurts to eat."

Alex flinched, stepping back, "What the fuck are you?"

"Stop it! Please!" he said. Alex felt himself jump on instinct, as though random nerves in his body flinched and pulled at him. He wanted to run again, feeling as though he were about to stare into an abyss.

It was only when he heard the kid shouting that he realized he had blanked out.

"Mr. Alex," the kid said again. Alex looked down, realizing the kid had his hands on his leg, though he felt no sense of touch. Nevertheless, the bioweapons stepped back, but the child followed.

"Get the fuck back!"

"I … I want to help."

"You want to help?" Alex scoffed, "Oh, that's rich. You come to me out of nowhere, you give me visions, fuck with my head, tell me not to run, make my powers go away – you think that's helping?!"

"I-I'm trying," the boy said again, "I want to help … but I can't … I didn't do …"

"What the hell is going on?" Alex asked again, as though it would help explain the insanity.

The boy took in a deep breath, closing his eyes. Alex could do nothing but wait and his patience was thin enough as it was. He considered it again. Fuck it, he was going to eat the kid. He walked forward and reached out for the boy, ready to fight through the pain again just to make sense of it all.

And his hand went through the kid.

The boy's image fizzled but whole. Of course, Alex's hand did not go unnoticed as the boy suddenly stepped back.

"Mr. Alex … please … listen to what I have to say."

Alex stunned and mouth agape, stood there completely unsure of himself. The kid wasn't real? Or was he real? Was this some illusion? No, this wasn't it. Something about the kid was different. He gritted his teeth and glared back.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

The boy nodded, "I'm … Abel … and I want to help you because you can help me."

Alex nodded wordlessly. It made sense.

"Okay, then what do you need help with?"

"I … I … need you to … help me so … we can …"

Alex grunted, "So we can what? Say it straight."

The boy shook his head, "I … I can't. I'm trying but … I'm afraid."

"Afraid of what?" Alex growled.

"Afraid of getting hurt when I try to talk about … it."

"About what!?"

"About the gỉ̶̺̫̮͇̤̝́͒͂̀͂̎͒̈́f̴̃͛̇̀̃͐̃͝t ȉ̴̡̛͍̱̟͖̤̖͖̩͈͕͕̮͗͑̀̍͜n̵s͎̥̤̜̗͎̻͍̉̐̄̒ͅi̴̛̜̯̳̲̰̩̣͉͋̚̚͜dę̴̯̣̙̹̬̤̩̜͒ͅ ̴̢̡̺̗̱͖̼̟̖̰̞̱̈́͊͒̏̽͒̅̑"

The kid's voice scrambled as he collapsed to his knees. His image jerked and sparked, as though fading in and out of existence. Alex tried to go to the child, but just as he thought of him, he too felt enraptured with pain. Thousands of nerve endings punctured and burst while cells began to flay themselves away from him. He felt his body splitting and reforming apart, though for some reason, he knew all of it was in his head. Everything was fake and yet … it was even worse to deal with.

The pain ceased as suddenly as it came with the boy on his knees as he glitched.

"I'm … sorry … Mr. Alex," he started, each word divided by shaky breathing, "I … can't do this … for too … long."

It clicked for Alex then and there. The kid hadn't been hurting him. The kid was hurting WITH him.

"What the hell," Alex thought of something else, "Are you Greene's Kid? Are you Pariah?"

"W-what? No … my … I'm Abel."

Alex shook his head, standing up as he finally got a name for Abel. The kid looked surprised if anything else, perhaps that he could even say stuff about his name, "Are you a part of project Crusade? Blackwatch? Vandenberg Air Force Base? Any of that makes sense to you?"

"No!" he shouted, "This doesn't have anything to do with … with … your stupid virus and your stupid … stupid world. You're … a big … mean … dummy! You weren't always like this …"

Alex stopped, "What? What the hell do you mean?"

The boy stopped, and looked up, staring into Alex. For a moment, Alex thought he felt something moving through his head. A glimpse of an image hit him suddenly, but rather than seeing anything, he simply smelled something. Necrotic flesh mixed with ever regenerating tissue – that was the smell, but it was covered in something, wrapped up. As soon as the mental image faded, he shouted.

"Was that supposed to help?"

"There … I can't … explaining hurts … everything hurts. I tried super hard, Mr. Alex, but I'm not good," the boy curled into a ball, voice finally breaking as it mixed with pained gasps of breath. He tried to continue, but even with the strength he showed trying to stand up to Alex, he had nothing for this.

"I'm scared … Mr. Alex. Every time you do bad things … I see it. Every time you eat … it hurts. All of it … hurts," the boy paused, "I'm sorry … I used the weird memory. I … I tried to find a good memory, but it … it was hard. I'm so tired. Everything you remember is so … dark … and painful."

He looked up, looking directly at Alex's face, "Please, Mr. Alex. Don't run. It doesn't do anything. You can never get away … and then they hurt me again and then I have to see everyone fail … but … but Mr. Cole … and Miss Claire, they're important. Please, you have to believe me."

Alex opened his mouth to shout back but stopped. Another vague scent. A campfire crackling in the dark as the ashen scents ran along his form – across from him stand a shape, one he could detect away from visual aids.

"The Claymore?" Alex muttered, "That bitch?"

"S-stop cursing! You keep cursing, but cursing is for bad people!" Abel shouted, but it was the weakest shout yet. The demand, however, felt as powerful as it could be for a child. Alex knelt down reaching with his hand only to pull back as he recalled the futility of such an action.

"I think you got the wrong Alex."

"No … you're the only Alex," Abel responded, "You're a good person. I know it. You … you can choose to be good … y-you can be bad if you choose it … but everything … is a choice.

He scoffed, "Who the hell told you that bullshit. Was it Macgrath?"

"No, it was you."

Now it was Alex's turn to go silent. With no response left in him, Alex was forced to watch as the boy completely vanished from his vision, his body twisting and fizzling into nothingness. All he could hear was the boy's voice.

 _Cole … and … Claire … can … help._

Alex shook his head, "How the fu … I mean … how do I do that?"

 _Back_ _…_ _house_ _…_ _mayor … search._

Loud clanging sounded again, alerting Alex again to the fight. Magrath and the claymore … Claire, right. A flood of information hit him as the rest of his senses called and told him what was going on. Gone was the chaos and madness … but so was the kid. Abel's voice was barely a whisper, fading against the slowly gathering windfall.

"Fuck."

 _…_ _I_ _…_ _heard that_ _…_


End file.
